Henny Penny retold by Margrete Lamond with Russell Thomson ill by Tamsin Ainslie

Once, when Henny Penny was pecking at her early-morning corn, something fell on her head.

‘Cluck!’ she said. ‘Who threw that?’

But there was no reply.

So she ran one way and peered. Then she ran another way and peeked. She looked here and looked there, but she saw nothing and no one.

Once, when Henny Penny was pecking at her early-morning corn, something fell on her head.

‘Cluck!’ she said. ‘Who threw that?’

But there was no reply.

So she ran one way and peered. Then she ran another way and peeked. She looked here and looked there, but she saw nothing and no one.

Henny Penny is concerned that bits of the sky are dropping and one by one her friends join her flight from the falling sky. They are even joined by Foxy Loxy who appears to be worried about the sky too. He leads them to tell the king. But when they reach the ‘palace’ it’s not quite as they imagine and a new flight begins. Text is set on one side of each opening, illustration on the other. Illustrations are stylised and set in white paper with the landscape framing the action.

Henny Pennyis a story that has been told many times over the years. This retelling from Little Hare is part of a series of popular traditional tales revisited. Each is illustrated by an Australian illustrator. The text is accessible to an independent reader and the illustrations are just beautiful. Recommended for pre- and early-schoolers and anyone fond of traditional tales.

Henny Penny, retold Margrete Lamond with Russell Thomson ill Tamsin Ainslie
Little Hare 2014 ISBN: 9781921894954

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com