Henrietta and the Golden Eggs

by Hanna Johansen

Book Overview

A read-aloud book for young children about one chicken's dream of a better life outside the coop. Henrietta has big dreams for a little chicken: learning to sing, to swim, to fly, and, most important... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1567922104
• ISBN13: 9781567922103
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.4" x 7.1"
• Age Range: 5 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Great Book

We raise backyard chickens at our home so this book was great for our kids. I love the photos as well as the story.

Wonderful book!

This is a gorgeous book! I read the first review from 2004 and definitely disagree that the moral of the story was lost in translation. First of all, the book was written in the 1950's in Germany and it's amazing to me that we are finally realizing that the industrialization of our food supply isn't doing us any favors. The book ends with Henrietta leading all 3,333 chickens out of the coop for the last time and with the chicken farm managers realizing that they can manage the farm better with the birds roaming free in the yard. More importantly, it's about a young "dreamer" who sets out to do the impossible (fly, swim, lay golden eggs). The elder hens tell her it's impossible and that she shouldn't bother trying. She doesn't listen and ends up freeing all the hens. Although she doesn't lay a golden egg, the point is that by striving for the things people tell her she can't do, she eventually changes the whole chicken world. It's lovely and endearing.

Review of Henrietta and the Golden Eggs

As a parent, I enjoy this succinct yet sensitive story about a chicken who turns the tables on a very serious situation; that is the healthfulness of her environment, which she shares with the many, many other chickens in her barn. My children, ages 4 and 7 found her antics hilarious. They begged for the story to be read again and again, which I was pleased to do. I would highly reccommend this book to other parents on the lookout for environmental books for their children, or for children who enjoy a good animal story.