Another Kid Book Review

Don't ask me why, but this book annoys the hell out of me. I'm sure you've read it. If not, or if it's been a long time, allow me to refresh your memory. The Little Red Hen finds a grain of wheat, plants it, reaps it, takes it to the mill to be ground into flour, makes a loaf of bread out of the flour, and eats the bread. Before she completes each task, she asks Duck, Goose, Cat, and Pig to help her. They refuse, playing and being lazy instead. Finally, when she asks who will help her eat the bread, they all volunteer to do so and she tells them no, that she will eat it herself, since she herself did all of the work for said bread loaf.

OK, first off, she finds one grain of wheat. One. That's going to take her all of, what, one minute to plant. Why does she need help planting one lousy grain of wheat? I'd say she's the lazy one if she needs assistance planting one grain of wheat. I'd feel bad for her if she needed to plant an entire back 40 of wheat on her own. Then she should ask for help. The same goes for reaping the one grain of wheat. Again, this will take her all of a minute or two. Then, taking one stalk of wheat to the mill is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a tiresome task. I would think that one stalk isn't very heavy and she can carry that sucker on her own. I don't even think one stalk of wheat is big enough for five people (or talking animals) to carry. Too many cooks spoil the soup, I say!

Now, she's going to have that one stalk milled into flour. Is there truly enough flour milled from one stalk to make an entire loaf of bread? I don't think so. I think she and the miller had some sort of illicit deal going on to supplement the meager flour milled from her one measly stalk of wheat. That's the only way she could have made an entire loaf of bread from her flour. And, if she did use only the flour from her one stalk of wheat, then the loaf wasn't big enough for five people/talking animals to all eat anyway. I think she was being facetious offering to share her bread. I think if the other four animals had helped her, they wouldn't have received more than a crumb of bread as thanks because of the small size of the loaf.

Finally, why should Cat, Goose, Duck, or Pig be obligated to help the Little Red Hen? They obviously aren't her family (different species) and they aren't good friends. The other four animals never invite Little Red Hen to play/goof off with them. Therefore, they can't be more than just acquaintances. Personally, I think the Little Red Hen has a "poor me/martyr" complex. Instead of help with her measly grain of wheat, she needs counseling!

That's my take on The Little Red Hen. Comment away, people!