King Rooster, Queen Hen

by Anita Lobel

The rooster and the hen set off in a mice-drawn shoe to proclaim themselves king and queen.

Genres: Picture Books

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Anita Lobel is an illustrator of children's books. Her memoir that depicts her childhood of flight and imprisonment in Nazi-occupied Poland, ''No Pretty Pictures'' was a finalist for the National Book Award.

She has also received the Caldecott Honor Medal.

Reviews

[Bethany Corkran · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fiction picture book novel tells the story of a rooster and a hen who are tired of their everyday role on the farm. They decide to become the king and queen and create their own monarchy. This works for lots of the animals, but when they come to the wolf things go south very fast. He defies their monarchy, so they become content with their previous everyday roles of the farm and denounce their monarchy once again. I like this story again because of the animal characters. I love books like this where animals have their own points of view. I would use this in my classroom to introduce the idea of monarchy. After reading this book, I would have the class randomly pick cards with roles played in a monarchy such as king, queen, jester, or peasant. Then I would have them act out those roles, and see if it makes them content as a student. This should be an eye opening experience for everyone involved.

[Everet Nestripke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures in this book are beautifully drawn and much of the writing is well done. It isnt the typical childrens book with lots of rhyming and repetition which can be nice on parents who have read book after book of rhymes. There isnt much of a moral to the story however and the ending is somewhat unsatisfactory. I was really put off by a glaring mistake on page 22. The author replaced the word duck with the word crow which left me very confused. Other than this the book was good and I enjoyed reading it to my daughter.

[Jeani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humorous!

[Edward Creter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anita Lobel is a survivor, a writer of kids' lit as well as a memoir of her time as a prisoner of Nazi Germany. She is an inspiration, and this rare gem is a good way to introduce the world to what it has missed. This classic fable from 1975 is a German fairy tale and has a cocky rooster making his animal subjects try different occupations on the farm. What results is a comic farce as these animal friends almost end up on Mr. Fox's dinner table! It's fun and enjoyable and I really want GR fans to sample this lady, whom hardly anyone reads anymore. Blame that on J. K. Rowling!