Because they are awesome, my parents held onto my favorite childhood books. Lyn Calder and Jeffrey Severn’s Little Red Hen was high on that list. I loved the Hen’s absolutely giant loaf of bread, as well as her (suddenly smaller) slice of toast.

Over the summer, my parents pulled out a number of my childhood favorites to read to S. Little Red Hen was an immediate winner. It’s got all the elements needed for toddler success: animals; bright, colorful illustrations; and short, punchy refrains. Not to mention carbohydrates.

Breaking Down Little Red Hen

Little Red Hen follows a predictable pattern, which got S actively interacting with the story as early as 19-20 months:

• First, the Hen asks “Who will help me [do whatever thing she needs help with to keep making the bread]?”
• Each time, the other animals respond in the same Rule of 3 refrain: “‘Not I,’ said Duck. ‘Not I,’ said Cat. ‘Not I,’ said Dog.”
• Hen responds in a predictable pattern that mirrors her initial ask, reinforcing the language that was already used: “Then I will [do whatever Hen’s initial request was] myself.”
• The sequence for each of Hen’s requests concludes with: “And she did.”

S loved the repetitions, and loved chiming in “did” at the conclusion of each section.

The refrains and parallel language are predictable, vocabulary building, and fun. They also use simple, declarative sentences that make it easier for young readers to understand what is happening and participate in the action.

The last few pages invert the animals’ refusals to help, continuing in a Rule of 3 pattern that ties the ending of the book to everything that came before in a satisfying “of course!” conclusion.

Who will help Hen eat the (absolutely ginormous) bread? “I will!” said Duck, Cat, and Dog. But in a continuation of the previously established pattern, Hen responds that she will eat the bread herself. And in a continuation of the refrain S loves so much, the story ends with a simple, “And she did.”

Analyzing the construction of the book, I can see why I loved Little Red Hen as a kid and why S loves it now. (Though if we’re being honest, I still really like the bread pictures, so maybe it’s more about the carbs than the exceptional construction of the story…)

Trying a Reimagining of the Story

Given S’s love of Little Red Hen, I thought it would be interesting to see S’s reaction to a version of the story geared for slightly older readers.

Jasmine Sears‘s and Amelia Mangham‘s upcoming picture book The Little Red Hen Learns How to Ask for Help cleverly reimagines the story in a light more favorable to the Hen’s unhelpful friends. In their retelling, Hen has asked — nay, demanded — each of her friends help her with a task they are unsuited to do. Dog is told to cut the wheat, Cat is told to fetch the water, and so on. It is only after Hen realizes she should be asking nicely and asking her friends for help with things they know how to do (and are not afraid of doing) that they all pitch in and bake the bread together.

S was absolutely transfixed by the illustrations in this version — they’re beautiful, bright, and almost glow from within. We made it to the end of the first half of the story (where Hen eats all the bread herself), which is the part S already knew. That was 367 words, which is on the long side for S’s attention span but doable with this many illustrations (particularly when they are brightly colored and of animals) and predictable, parallel language. The fact that S already knew the basics of the story to that point probably also helped.

S’s interest in the retelling highlights the value of reimagining stories that are familiar to young readers — the more familiar the story, the easier it is for a young reader to understand parts of the retelling, even if generally aimed at an older age group. It’s also another mark in the plus column for animals, parallel language, and brightly colored illustrations (a.k.a. toddler gold).

Little Red Hen By the Numbers:

Pages: 23

Word Count: 297

Words Per Illustration: 24.75

Words Per Sentence: 7.24

The Little Red Hen Learns to Ask for Help By the Numbers:

Pages: 36 pages of what I would consider the “main” book.

Word Count: 785

Words Per Illustration: 13.77

Words Per Sentence: 10.61