Friday, February 22, 2008

The Little Red Hen by Jerry Pinkney



Pinkney, Jerry. The Little Red Hen. New York: The Penguin Group, 2006.

In this classic tale of helping others out, Pinkney does a terrific job of using animals to get a positive message across. Four animals, a dog, pig, rat, and goat are offered several chances to help out a hen who finds some seeds to make bread. When they all decline every time the hen must tend and harvest the seeds with just the help of her chicks. When the bread is finally done the animals jump right in to have a chance to share, but soon learn the hen will not share anything since they decided not help. Each animal is written in its color which really brings the words out and allows word recognition amongst younger children. The illustrations are done in earthy tones with some bright colors on each page like the red hen or yellow flowers. They are created in full page art that is eye catching and artistic. The story is fun with a good valuable lesson at the end that children will enjoy.

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