"Little Red Hen" is a Fairytale Fav

The Little Red Hen
Illustrated by Lucinda McQueen
ISBN #059041154

    Ask any little girl what she wants to be, and chances are she will tell you "a princess."  In some cases, the little girl will tell you that she already is a princess.  I, myself, am guilty as charged.  Although I knew very well that I had not been born into royalty, I really thought that I'd marry into it.  Every little girl knows that if you marry a prince, you become a princess.  So, for the first few years of my life I would observe my future husband, Prince Harry, from behind my television set, holding tight to the secret that he would someday make me the princess I always wanted to be.
     Obviously, as I grew up I realized that although Prince Harry will eventually make some girl a princess, she would probably (okay, definitely) not be me.  But where did I, and every other little girl in the world, get this fantasy from?  Fairy tales.  Between the books and movies, toys and dolls, little girls are surrounded by this genre.  A fairytale, or folktale as it is sometimes referred, are stories that grew out of the imaginations of the people (folk).  These stories are generally popular with children, although they were actually intended for adults.  Walt Disney has recreated many fairy tales where he altered the ending and added fairies and magic to make them appropriate for children.  Many of the original stories did not have a "happily ever after" ending.  Did you know that the Little Mermaid actually sacrificed her own life and turned into sea foam because the prince married someone else?
     Luckily, writers have made these stories much more enjoyable to read.  I have always loved reading folktales to children of all ages, maybe because I enjoy them so much myself.  One of my all time favorite folktales is The Little Red Hen, illustrated by Lucinda McQueen.  This tells the story of a hardworking hen who lives with a lazy dog, a vain cat, and a chatty goose.  When the Little Red Hen finds a few grains of wheat, she decides to use them to make a loaf of bread.  She asks her friends for help during each step, planting the grains, cutting the wheat, threshing it and taking it to the mill, and finally baking the loaf.  Each time, they refuse to help her.  Once the bread has been taken out of the oven, the animals tell the Little Red Hen they will help her eat it.  This time, the hen explains that she does not need help.  Since she did the hard work all by herself, she will enjoy the final product all by herself.
     Not only does this story teach a great lesson about hard work, there are so many reading strategies you can teach with this book.  You can do a character analysis lesson with each of the 4 characters.  A character web would be a helpful graphic organizer for this lesson.  Another lesson can be sequencing; in what order did she do each task?  These tasks can also tie in to a science lesson on how bread is made from grains.
     Folktales are a very enjoyable genre to read, for both children and adults.  I imagine that both teachers and parents alike have tons of fairy/folk tales on their bookshelves.  I hope that this blog will persuade you to add The Little Red Hen to your bookshelf!