The Little Red Hen

Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: I do not agree with the comments that Jehu You has written. The said author of this book is actually the illustrator. The story of the Red Hen has been told for centuries, and was actually written down and published by Joseph Jacobs in the late nineteenth century. The story had been around for many years before that, just not in written form. The tale is similar to one of Aesop's fables, teaching a great deal of morality and responsibility. When Jehu You writes that the other animals have "better things to do"- those things include tanning themselves, playing cards, playing pool,watching a movie,and playing checkers. The other animals do not help the little red hen when she asks.
This story does not teach selfishness and gluttony. The little red hen asked for help and was not given help. The three lazy farm animals want to reap the benefits of the hens work, without having to help. I want my child to learn that helping others can produce a wonderful reward. I read this book to her frequently, and hope that she learns about being a productive member of society.

Rating:
Summary: Chicken with a scythe
Review: It never rains but it pours. Recently I had the chance to review a delightful picture book entitled, "Jamela's Dress" by South African author/illustrator Niki Daly. That done I moved on to read and review some other picture books on my list. I found a fabulous and relatively new retelling of an old story by Barry Downard entitled, "The Little Red Hen" and settled in to read it. To my surprise, Mr. Downard is ALSO a resident of South Africa. Now I've been reviewing picture books for a very long time (which is to say, roughly one year) and I never ran across any South African creators in my travels... ever. Suddenly within a single week I read not one but two, practically in a row. It seems to me that perhaps we are seeing a definite increase in South African picture book popularity. I, for one, am not opposed to the notion.

But to get back to the book. "The Little Red Hen" contains perhaps one of the most straightforward, shan't deviate from the text, retellings of the originally story I've ever perused. I'm sure you know the tale, but if not I'll sum it up for you. Once there was a little red hen who lived with three lousy no-goodnik animals. When the little red hen discovers some grains of wheat (where she finds them is left somewhat unclear) she asks the duck, the pig, and the cat if they want to help her plant it. They decline. When it's time to harvest she makes a similar request and they, once more, decline. This continues as she takes the wheat to the mill then bakes it into delicious mouth-watering bread. When the hen makes a final offer of "Who will help me eat the bread", the other animals are suddenly very interested in being useful. However, the little red hen was just asking so that she could throw it in their faces that since they never helped her, their share would be zippo. So she eats it all up herself, to their chagrin.

Anyone who reads through this story and doesn't flash back to Jon Scieszka's version of it in "The Stinky Cheese Man" is made of stronger stuff than I. However, Barry Downard's retelling will definitely keep you from thinking of anything BUT his own particularly unique method of illustration. You see, Barry's one of those newfangled computer graphic illustrators living in the world today. In what the bookflap describes as "photo collage", Barry has taken pictures of real hens, cats, pigs, and ducks and given them particularly anthropomorphic tendencies. The hen herself sports a pair of round bright blue glasses, looking like nothing so much as small feathered version of Janet Reno. The pig, a loathsome tusky fellow, wears a backwards baseball cap whose entire logo is enragingly impossible to read. The cat and duck don't have any especially interesting tendencies. They just lounge and lay back. As the hen bustles about, the others engage in everything from checkers and sunbathing to playing poker and pool. Perhaps most baffling for me was an odd picture in which everyone sits around watching "Hairy Trotter" starring a Harry Potteresque pig in round glasses. It's doggone weird.

The photographs themselves stick with you though. Barry obviously put some work and thought into their creation. When the hen rides a bike to the mill she sports a tiny black bike helmet and manages to peddle the contraption through a complicated invention involving sticks on hinges and red rubber boots. Perspective and focus change and shift according to the needs of the pictures. All in all, the efforts made in this book are impressive. They're colorful and, with the possible exception of the last too close close-up, believably done.

This book sticks with you long after you've read it. I've little doubt in my mind that kids reading it will love it desperately. After all, what more could they want than to see real animals doing the kinds of things little kids do all the time? Mainly, goofing off. I don't know how many children will actually be sympathetic to the little red hen herself. She comes off as a kind of humorless know-it-all (hence my "Stinky Cheese Man" comment), but the pictures more than make up for her. If you're looking for a picture book that does something absolutely new, intriguing, and inventive, "The Little Red Hen" has your number. It's a pip.


Rating:
Summary: All is not lost
Review: The pictures are beautiful, but any who knows me knows that I look for the original stories. This rendition is wonderful because of its use of real pictures. But the characters are slightly altered and the lines are just a bit different. But the point of the story is not lost.
It makes for great reading as a bedtime story or for beginning reader.

Rating:
Summary: Bah!
Review: This story stinks! How dare the author of this book show selfishness like that and glorify it! The story is lame and evil. A dummy hen asks everyone one the Farm to help her bake some bread. They all have better things to do, so she does on her own. Then when it is all done, all their things are done, so they kindly ask if they could have a slice. She meanly refuses, and hogs all the delicious bread in front of the poor, starving animals. This story is a bad influnce on kids, because it glorifies gluttony and selfishness. This book ought to be banned.