With Love, Little Red Hen
(Atheneum Books for Young Readers-2004)
By: Alma Flor Ada
Illustrated by: Leslie Tryon
Grade: 2-3
With Love, Little Red Hen is about a hen who moves into a new town with her seven chicks and wants to grow corn, but none of her neighbors will help. Little Red Riding Hood writes a letter to Goldilocks asking for her help. They decide to surprise Red Hen and help with harvesting the corn. Hen puts a letter on the scarecrow to invite whoever has helped to dinner. I love the end of the book because it is a picture walk left to interpretation. This is a great book to teach kids about helping others and the struggles of getting acquainted to a new neighborhood.
Theme/Skills Taught:Helping others/letter writing
About the Author: Alma's grandmother taught her to read before she was three by writing the names of plants and flowers with a stick on the ground. She loved to read outdoors and especially in the trees! Her grandmother, uncle and father also loved to tell her stories, which is a great contributor to her story-telling abilities. One of the bedtime stories she made up for her nieces actually became a book. About Alma Flor Ada
About the Illustrator: Leslie began drawing almost as soon as she learned to walk. She would use the charcoal, colored pencils and ink from her father's art supply room next door! She wrote and illustrated her first full story when she was in 5th grade. This is a great point to discuss with your students. It is never too young to be successful. However, she did become a dancer first. The places she has lived and her husband, relatives and friends continue to encourage and inspire her. Leslie Tryon's Bio
Pre-Reading Activities: Go over the structure of writing a letter. Has anyone ever written a letter before? What might you have to write a letter for?
-Discuss what it would be like for a kid to move to a new school? You could use this in the beginning of the year to talk about helping others get acquainted.
Post Reading Activities: Have them write a letter to the teacher or to their parents about something they need help with, whether it is academic or not. Have them use the same structure (it may take a few rough drafts).
I haven't seen this book before but it looks really good. I like your activity suggestions. The blog itself looks awesome. Your background is really cool.
ReplyDeleteI just like how the whole book is written in letters. I can imagine the talent it took to write a book like this and get all the information included only using letters. I like this to introduce letters and show them there are many different writing styles.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good book indeed. It teaches children about generous, and how to acknowledge people's efforts. This is also a book of gratitude. I hope to use it for children. Thank you Holly.
ReplyDeleteGood! This blog is good for that reason...to find good books that you might otherwise not find on your own! Good luck with everything Sister Joana :)
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