Aunt Ant Leaves Through the Leaves

Gr 1–3—In this retelling of "The Little Red Hen," a monkey asks his friends to help him get a load of bananas home to make a pie. Of course, they are all too busy, except for the worker ants, and they join him in eating the treat. When monkey asks for help cleaning up the piles of banana skins, the other animals are ready to help if they can be paid with a pie of their own. Bold cartoon illustrations on full-bleed spreads are done in oil pastels and will grab readers' attention. The homophones and homonyms are plentiful and presented in bold type. Because the story is familiar to young readers, it should be easier for them to hear and remember all of the wordplay, e.g., "And we need some flour. It's over there beside the flower!" Some of the text strains a bit, for example, "Monkey says, "Bee, Hi! Be a friend and help me. This pile's too high!" But children will enjoy the lesson if they can appreciate the silliness and may begin to use homonyms and homophones on their own for the pure fun of it. This is an excellent choice for language-arts classes as well as a comical read-aloud to pair with various versions of "The Little Red Hen."—Mary Hazelton, Elementary Schools in Warren & Waldoboro, ME