Hi there!
My brother asked me about a book my long ago boyfriend read to him and another brother when they were very young (I’d guess 3 and 5 yrs old). I have no idea! Can you help?
Here is his description:
“Do you remember the name of that children’s book that he read to us, about the chicken who ate all of the things in her way on her journey to go see the giant who was eating all the chickens eggs? And then she spit out all those things that she ate at the giant, including a fox, wolf, bear, and the sea?”
I’d love to find the book, as this brother is all grown up now and his first child will be born next month! Would love to get it as a present :).
Thanks for your help!
The little hen and the giant by Maria Polushkin Robbins and illustrated by Yuri Salzman. Published by Harper & Row (1977). From the Kirkus Review: Polushkin and Salzman transform the giant of this Russian tale into a sort of American bandido–complete with Western hat, yard-long mustache, and a bent for expressions like “”lily-livered critter”” and “”what in tarnation.”” The story is a brisk, bold variation on the trusty theme of a spunky small animal facing up to larger ones. (Here, it’s a hen who gets fed up with the giant’s taking all her eggs.) When a fox, a wolf, and then a bear laugh at her for “”going to get that giant! I’m going to fix him good,”” the hen simply gobbles them up; and when a lake gets in her way, she swallows that too–but her method of “”fixing”” the giant is Wittier than just taking another gulp.