The Little Red Hen

Pinkney, Jerry. 2006. THE LITTLE RED HEN. New York: Penguin Group. ISBN 0803729359

In this retelling of the cumulative beast folktale, THE LITTLE RED HEN, Pinkney tells the story of the little red hen finding wheat seeds and wanting to plant them. As each task needs to be done leading up to having bread to eat, the little red hen solicits help from her neighbors, with a special plea to the animal that she feels is most suited for the task at hand. The little red hen comes to only to hear the same phrase of “Not I” from each neighbor. When the bread is complete, however, everyone is quick to volunteer to help with the eating. Having done all of the work herself, the little red hen only shares the bread with her chicks. This classic tale is one that children will enjoy hearing again and again. They will be able to quickly choral read the phrases “Not I” as each animal declines helping the little red hen and even the youngest students will be able to follow along as the animals names are color coded in the text based on their color in the picture, such as the “round pink pig”. The children will be delighted to see that the unhelpful animal neighbors get just what they deserve in the end and will joyfully call out the line, “Oh no you won’t” when they offer to eat the little red hen’s bread. The pencil, ink, and watercolor illustrations are full of many details that will capture the attention of the reader and provide a great opportunity for a picture walk before beginning to read the story. Pairing this tale with other versions of the “Little Red Hen” will provide a wonderful opportunity to discuss the similarities and differences in the stories.