The Little Red Hen

HOME SCHOOL BOOK REVIEW






Book: The Little Red Hen



Author and Illustrator: Rudolf Christian Freund



Publisher: Simon and Schuster, 1942



ASIN: ‎ B000E2ZBFI



Language level:  1



(1=nothing objectionable; 2=common euphemisms and/or childish slang terms; 3=some cursing and/or profanity; 4=a lot of cursing and/or profanity; 5=obscenity and/or vulgarity)



Recommended reading level: Ages 2 – 5



Rating: ***** 5 stars



(5 stars=EXCELLENT; 4 stars=GOOD; 3 stars=FAIR; 2 stars=POOR; 1 star=VERY POOR; no stars=NOT RECOMMENDED)



Category: Children’s book



Reviewed by Wayne S. Walker



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     Freund, Rudolf Christian .  The Little Red Hen (Published in 1942 by Simon and Schuster).   The Little Red Hen is an American fable first collected by Mary Mapes Dodge in St. Nicholas Magazine in 1874 based on a story Dodge’s mother often told her.  The story is meant to teach children the importance of hard work and personal initiative by asking important questions about when we are obligated to help one another.  The Little Red Hen finds some seeds on the ground and decides to plant them to grow wheat for bread. For each of the steps required to make the bread, harvesting the grain, threshing the stalks, milling the wheat into flour, and baking it into bread, she asks the other farm animals—the pig, goose, cat, and duck—for assistance, but they all decline to help. The little red hen responds, “Then I will do it myself.” This cycle continues until the hen finishes baking the bread. When she finishes her bread, they all chime and agree to help her eat the bread, but the little red hen decides to eat it all herself.



     My wife’s cousin, Libby McAfee Claypool, posted the following information by Barry Nichols: I don’t think anybody should be allowed to graduate from High School until they’ve read one of the most important literary classics of all time, The Little Red Hen ….I grew up with this story. Such a simple lesson on being a responsible individual and helping others. Modern society no longer embraces this kind of thinking it seems. “It doesn’t matter that you did not contribute to any of the work or preparation in making something successful…you still get to eat from the fruit of people’s labor.” This kind of thinking is wrong. It promotes laziness and slothfulness and the ultimate feeling of entitlement that we see in our world today.  So you see, this is why this story should be resurrected and taught to our children at very early ages…like it once was…like it was in the days when people were more responsible and understood “cause and effect” relationships. Yes, let’s revive this “Literary Classic” before it is too late!



     This folk tale teaches children the value of hard work and self-reliance.  Rudolf Christian Freund’s version was one of eleven other books that represented the first twelve Little Golden Books that were originally printed in 1942.  The publisher of Little Golden Books has come out with a couple of newer versions, one by Lilian Obligado (1990) and the other by J. P. Miller (2001).  But the classic version is by Freund (1915 – 1969), a renowned, hard-driven American scientific illustrator and naturalist with an aptitude for relentless and detailed observation, and a passion for exactitude. The story was likely intended as a literature primer for young readers, but departed from highly moralistic, often religious stories written for the same purpose.  It illustrates the principle of 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.”  An animated adaptation of the story titled The Wise Little Hen was produced by Walt Disney Productions in 1934. It is notable for the first appearance of Donald Duck as one of the lazy animals who refuses to help the hen.