K-Gr 3-"Little Red Hen" repurposed. This gritty, sharply graphic woodcut version of the time-honored tale sets our feathered friend and her slothful sidekicks squarely in the present. Lolling in a state-of-the-art media room, glued to an enormous TV, an indolent trio proffers predictable replies to Hen's entreaties for help with her work: "`Not I,' said the Fat Cat. `Not I,' said the Dirty Rat. `Not I,' said the Greedy Pig." So it's Hen who plants and waters and weeds her seed, which grows to be the sheltering tree under which her little red chick is born. When, in time, Mother Hen encounters a little cat, a little rat, and a little pig who ask, "Who will let us in to play under the tree?" her response is-you guessed it-"Not I!" Her chick, appalled at Mother's unkindness, calls her out and asks them in. At the end of the day, Hen sends the visitors home with green seeds of their very own. Matthews's hand-painted Japanese woodblock illustrations, black and white and red all over-with, of course, an important touch of green-are striking editorial panoramas that give readers a sense of the tension (and the undeniable connection) between city and country, between environmentalism and careless consumerism, and between egotism and the greater good.-Kathy Krasniewicz, Perrot Library, Old Greenwich, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

New Zealander Matthews creates an odd but visually striking version of the Little Red Hen story. Here the fruit of the chicken's unassisted labors is not a loaf of bread but rather a "great, green whispery tree" that she lovingly cultivates to provide shelter for her egg. Her payback moment arrives when the offspring of the lazy pig, rat and cat ask to play in the tree's shade and she turns them down "with a wry smile." But the Red Hen had not reckoned on the generosity of her own little one. "Mum, that's mean!" exclaims her chick, and the Red Hen learns an important lesson about visiting the iniquity of the parents upon their offspring. Matthews tells her story through stylish and impressively detailed Japanese woodblock prints, adding splashes of bright red and green to punctuate the bold white-and-black lines. She clearly delights in re-imagining the lifestyles of the original layabout crew: one spread finds the Fat Cat, Dirty Rat and Greedy Pig lounging on a couch in front of a home entertainment center, while a few pages later they speed past in a snazzy convertible, leaving Red Hen in a cloud of exhaust. Unfortunately, as the story moves to a new generation with its themes of forgiveness, it feels more like a tract and less like a tale. Ages 4-8. (Mar.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Illustrated with scarlet poultry that pops right out of the black-and-white woodcut illustrations, this variation on "Little Red Hen" offers unusual visual impact, as well as a gentle suggestion that children are not culpable for the sins of their parents. The Red Hen gets no help from Fat Cat, Dirty Rat or Greedy Pig in planting or tending the green seed she finds; years later, when a little cat, rat and pig ask her to let them play under the tree that has grown up, she responds, "Not I!" But, "Mum, that's MEAN!" exclaims her own chick, and proceeds to invite them over for a day of play. Opening scenes of a junk-strewn industrial wasteland that is transformed by the end into grassy, rolling hills add an environmental subtext to this seemingly simple yet multilayered import. (Picture book. 5-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

(Preschool) Oh, the sins of the mothers. The Little Red Hen makes her point about halfway through this story, only to have to reconsider her actions when, after planting and nurturing and sheltering a tree All. By. Herself., she gives birth to a chick who wants only to play with the offspring of those who wouldn't help her mother. Yes, it's more than a little adult in theme, but the telling is spare and sprightly, and the story is all on the side of the young. The small, square trim size tidily frames black woodcut prints accented with red for the hen and green for her tree; the modest, prim tone is made mischievous by such details as the sight of Greedy Pig too busy vegging out in front of his flat-screen TV to help a friend in need. Copryight 2007 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.