This book is about a hen who finds some grains of wheat. The hen decides to plant, grow, and harvest this wheat. Before she starts each step, she asks her friends the cat, the pig, and the duck if they would be willing to help her. Each time they turn her down. After the hen grinds the wheat into flour, turns the flour into dough, and creates delicious bread. Even though the cat, the pig, and the duck were not willing to help create the bread they still wanted to eat it, but the hen would not allow it. Readers will get the message that one must work hard for what they want and things will not just be given to you. I really enjoyed this book! I have read this story before, but not this exact version. I would say that this version is very modern. Barry Downward did an amazing job with the illustrations! The illustrations look like reall photos with the characters photo shopped into them. There are hysterical pictures such as of the hen riding a bike and the pig watching hairy trotter on television. I even found myself laughing at a few of them! Overall, this was a great read! ( )

This book is great for children to not expect things to be handed to you if you don't want to work for it.

K-3 ( )

This story was a once upon a time story. I loved it a lot because it incorporated different folklore tales all into one big story. The pictures in the book were very detailed, and were very funny. I think that little kids would love the pictures and find them very funny. The theme of this story is to help your friends always, not just when you will be getting something out of it. ( )

In my opinion “The Little Red Hen” illustrated by Barry Downward is a very good book. This is a great book for younger children. Grades Pre-K-2nd would enjoy reading this book. The repetition in the book make for a predictable but funny story. Every time Little Red Hen asks who will help her the duck, the pig and the cat always say “Not I.” The illustrations are the best part of the book. The illustrations show realistic looking animals who are doing funny things. On one page of the book the cat is wearing headphones and the pig is wearing a backwards hat. Little Red Hen is also shown wearing rain boots while she is working in the field. The part in the book where the pig, the duck and the cat are gathered around the T.V. watching “Hairy Trotter” is one of my favorite parts. The illustrations make the book very comical but they don’t take away from the message the book is trying to portray. The big idea of the book is that order to receive the rewards you must help with the work. ( )

The Little Red Hen tells a story of a Hen who wants to plant wheat, and when she asks her animal friends if they'd want to help they all say no. So with her growing wheat process she continues to ask her friends if they'd like to help with different tasks and they always say no. In the end the Hen makes bread and asks if anyone wants some and they all say yes, but the Hen doesn't share because they didn't help. This story teaches us that if we want something we have to work for it, and if you don't want to work for it then you don't deserve the benefits of someone else's hard work. ( )