Hungry Hen [Hardcover]

Richard Waring (Author), Caroline Jayne Church (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up

There once was a very hungry little hen, and she ate and ate, and grew and grew, and the more she ate, the more she grew.

Up on the hill lives a cunning fox. He watches the hen every day and thinks, "If I wait just one more day, the hen will be even bigger."

Then one day he can't wait any longer...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Waring's droll debut picture book introduces a hungry little hen who "ate and ate, and grew and grew, and the more she ate, the more she grew." Day after day, an equally ravenous fox sits on a hill above the henhouse, surmising that the longer he waits to sneak down the hill (presumably to devour the hen), the bigger she will be. British artist Church plays with perspective to accentuate the hen's gradual enlargement and the fox's increasingly emaciated state as its ribs grow more prominent. When the seemingly sly creature finally makes his move, predator becomes prey as the now enormous hen gobbles up the now scrawny fox in a sudden, kid-pleasing about-face. With its relatively large type size, limited vocabulary and copious repetition, this straightforward narrative is just right for those beginning to read on their own, (e.g., "And so he waited and waited and waited, and the hen grew bigger and bigger, and the fox grew hungrier and hungrier, and thinner and thinner"). Church's spare artwork matches the text in its simplicity, with her bold palette and thick black line shown off against inventively textured backgrounds created on hand-made paper. A refreshingly understated caper. Ages 3-6.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

K-Gr 2-A parable about greed. A steadily growing hen that is mightily fond of her feed is watched over by an increasingly hungry fox. "If I wait just one more day, the hen will be even bigger," he muses. His greedy eyes take in the chicken's increasing size and weight as he gets leaner and hungrier. However, this is no ordinary hen. Waring masterfully builds suspense with only a few well-chosen lines of text per page. Church's pen-and-ink and watercolor artwork on specially created papers features simple outlines and achieves maximum expression with minimal pen strokes. Close-ups of the hen as she eats and continues to expand emphasize her ballooning size and the contrast to the scrawny, expectant fox. A sudden change in font size combined with an abrupt halt to the pictures prepares readers for the surprising climax followed by the hen with the hint of a satisfied smile on her face. Chalk one up for the underdog; this hen has just expanded her daily diet.

Mary Elam, Forman Elementary School, Plano, TX

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (December 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0066238803
• ISBN-13: 978-0066238807
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 9.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,376,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, If Only To Me, October 28, 2002

By 

Michael E. Rank "Ex-Librarian, future zombie" (Chicago Suburbs, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hungry Hen (Hardcover)

The ending of this book has such a twist, that most children I've read this book to don't seem to get it. Actually, only a handful of parents seem to realize what just happened. But that doesn't detract from the fact the story of one incredibly hungry hen and one slowly starving fox is one of the more entertaining children's books to come out in 2001. The illustrations fit the story well, as does the use of repetition throughout the hungry hen's story. While I'm sure the fun twist can be seen coming a mile away, I won't ruin it here for people who don't read reviews. Needless to say, whether you're reading this to one child, or an entire classroom full of chilren, this simply told story entertains them all.

5.0 out of 5 stars My 3 1/2 year old loves this book!, December 2, 2009

By 

Kelly L. Sanders "3Girls1Boy" (Cleveland, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hungry Hen (Hardcover)

My daughter is so hooked on this book that at the age of 3 she was "reading" it nearly word-for-word (she had memorized every page). We kept renewing it from the library until I finally realized that I should just buy it instead of paying the late fees!