I had conflicting feelings about this story. It has a really good plot and lesson though. I read this story when I was little while I was learning Spanish. I think that bilingual version of this book would be great for ESL students. I think on one hand, the book shows that people can treat you badly and be lazy. On the other hand, it shows that if you are willing to put in the tie and hard work, then you deserve what you worked for. It shows students that they get in return what they give in the first place.

I have conflicting feelings about this book. In the text the hard work of the hen is highlighted. I like that although the hen does not get help she does not give up on herself and pushed through to harvest all the wheat. All of her friends refused to help with the process at all. When the hen was able to make the bread she did not share with her friends. Initially I agreed, they did not do work, they should not get any bread. When reading this to a child you do not want them to think just because someone doesn't help you should be rude to them. An eye for and eye makes the whole world blind. The dialogue in the book was wonderful. It highlighted repetition and emotions of the characters. Each friend would repeat "Not I," when asked to help. When the hen spoke you could feel the frustration when they all tried to eat her bread. "Oh, no, you won't!" Although this book highlights possibly bad behavior I believe it to be a fun story to read to kids. You can use this to show that you should help others. ( )

In my opinion, I would rate this book as a 6/10. This book is an easy read and would be good for students who are just beginning to read books themselves. I liked this book because I think it relayed the overall message in a way for students to understand, by creating the same style organization throughout the entire book. However, I just didn't really feel engaged in the book, which is why I didn't necessarily love it. One thing I enjoyed most about the book, was the illustrations on each page. They clearly depicted what was happening on each page, which would allow for the students to easily understand what was occurring. I also really like the language use in this book. The writer chose to use very descriptive words that really made a vivid image in my head as I was reading. For example, the book stated, " All summer the wheat grew taller and taller. It turned from green to gold, and at last it was time for the wheat to be harvested". In this example, the author uses great descriptive words to describe what is happening in the story. The author also made a clear point in describing the overall message of the story. The message of the story is that the little red hen put all of her hard work and effort into harvesting the grain and making the bread, but whenever she asked for help, all of her friends said no. In the end of the book, when her friends asked for some of the bread she had made she said no because no one had helped her. I am conflicted with this message, because I don't agree that if someone is mean to you that you should be mean back. Therefore, this is another reason why I did not enjoy this book and wouldn't include it in my classroom. ( )

I thought this was a very good book! I liked this book for its illustrations and language. I liked the illustrations because it really helped with the mood of the book. For example, when the hen was getting mad, we could see just how mad and frustrated that hen was. This was important when the hen was harvesting the wheat. I did not know what harvesting wheat was or how much work it took. From the different illustrations, I was able to see that harvesting wheat and threshing is hard work and very time consuming. I also liked the pattern in this book. I liked that the answer to each task the hen asked the friends’ answer was no. This lead the book to have suspense especially when the hen asked “who wants to eat?” and did not ask “who wants do this?” I also liked the pattern in this book because it was easy to follow even when I was unclear what harvesting and threshing was.
In conclusion, I believe the author, Margot Zemach, was trying to emphasize to not let other people use you. If people are not helpful they should not be able to participate or experience the success of that outcome. ( )

Fantasy
Age appropriateness: primary, intermediate
Media: Watercolor
This book is about a little red hen who is trying to feed her children. The little red hen asks her friends, the pig, the goose and the cat if they would help her harvest, plant, and take the grain to the mill to be made into flour. But the pig, goose, and the cat refuse to help. That does not stop the little red hen from doing what needs to be done. When the little red hen uses the flour and makes bread she does not share it with her friends because they did not help her. Instead the little red hen shares it with her children.
This is a good fantasy book because it teaches kids the power of helping others through a little red hen having to harvest, plant and take the grain to the mill herself. This book does a great job of showing how helping others is a good thing and that if you do not help others you should not expect to get any of what they are making. This is a good fantasy because in the book the Hen is planting grain, harvesting it, and then takes it to the mill to be made into flour. Then when the Hen has the flour she goes home and makes bread. All of this cannot happen in real life, a Hen cannot talk, bake, harvest, and plant. This is why it is a good fantasy.