The Little Red Hen [Hardcover]

Barry Downard (Illustrator)

Book Description

"Not I," said the duck.
"Not I," said the pig.
"Not I," said the cat.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 1-Downard presents a new rendition of the classic story in which the lazy duck, pig, and cat refuse to help the resourceful hen. This version elaborates a bit on how the bread is a "delicious golden brown color" and in the end the hen eats it all by herself, not with her chicks as in some retellings. However, what really sets this book apart is its modern and witty artwork. The collage photographs are generated with the assistance of a computer with delightful results. In one scene, the three animals are playing pool; another shows the little red hen riding a bicycle and wearing a helmet, glasses, and red rain boots; and in another illustration, the cat has headphones. The creative pictures are fun to pore over and will catch the interest of kids slightly older than the traditional audience for this tale.-Linda M. Kenton, San Rafael Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

K-Gr. 2. The tale of the hard-working hen and her lazy friends (a duck, a pig, and a cat) gets a traditional retelling in terms of text, but the pictures are something else! South African photographer Downard has created a series of ingenious, sometimes quite funny full-color photo-collages that breathe new life into the familiar tale. From the cover image of the hen, dressed to the giblets for gardening, to the feckless friends sunbathing, playing pool, or glued to a TV version of "Hairy Trotter," the pictures are unfailingly eye-tickling and full of details that repay careful examination. Who can resist their witty charms? "Not I," said the reviewer. Michael Cart
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; 1St Edition edition (March 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689859627
• ISBN-13: 978-0689859625
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #312,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Book, September 15, 2004

By 

A. Butler (US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Little Red Hen (Hardcover)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New twist to an old story, July 21, 2005

By 

Kathy W. Collins "bookie" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Little Red Hen (Hardcover)

I recently did a study of Little Red Hen stories for a traditional children's literature assignment and Downward's version was my favorite. He takes the most basic elements of the story...hen, three barnyard friends, and their repetitious "Not I" answers, and adds his unique style of photo-illustration. Through digital manipulation, he has composed some hilarious pictures of the animals in action. My favorites are the hen on a bicycle, taking the flour to the mill, and a shot of the animals huddled around a TV set watching the film, "Hairy Trotter" (with a spectacled pig as the main character.) It is a fun read that kids should love.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Chicken with a scythe, October 21, 2004

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Little Red Hen (Hardcover)

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.