Brenda MaierReviews

Reading age ‎4 - 8 years

A girl wants to build a red fort. The boys won't help her at all, so when it is all finished she won't let them in.

Little Red Hen variation

A spunky, feminist adaptation of the timeless favorite.
An appealing girl-power update… all genders will be inspired." Ruby's mind is always full of ideas. She finds some old boards and decides to build something. She invites her brothers to help, but they just laugh and tell her she doesn't know how to build When she creates a fort that they all want to play in, it is Ruby who has the last laugh. Modern spin on a favorite The Little Red Hen celebrates the pluck and ingenuity of young creators everywhere!
I read this book to my kindergarten students and we connect to the text by building a class fort and reading some books together inside :)

This is a very fun story to read to the children. I tells a story of how out of little scraps of wood she the little girl was able to create a beautiful fort. It teaches then the lesson that you can use and reuse things in order to create new things.

GREAT retelling of Three Billy Goats Gruff ...

This book could be good for primary or intermediate students. This is the story of a very creative and intelligent little girl named Ruby, who wants to build and create different things. Every time she thinks of a new idea, she reaches out to her three brothers to see if they want to help her build it, every time they say they are too busy to help her. She continues to build and create without them, and eventually builds a fort, her brothers don’t help her with it but want to play in it with her. At first she doesn’t let them, but then opens up her heart and invites them in, and the book ends with them all spending time together in Ruby’s fort. This was a helpful book because it portrays girls as strong, smart, and independent. I would use this in my classroom library because it has such a strong and creative female lead and it shows the power of kindness when Ruby lets her brothers into her fort.

When the main character, Ruby, found some old boards, she was energetic about building something out of them. When she asked her brothers to help her build her plan, draw out the plan, gather the supplies, cut the boards, and hammer the nails, they rejected her every time. However, each time they said no to her request, Ruby decided to do everything herself with her courage and pride. When she asked her brothers if they wanted to play in her newly built fort, they finally had interest in wanting to play with her. Ruby then rejected her brothers and happily played by herself. Eventually, Ruby's brothers painted her fort red, and Ruby allowed them inside to finish a plate of desserts. The story ends with a separate page on types of forts that can be built, which is a fun ending for children and can encourage creativity at home and in all types of weather. This story can allow female readers to feel prideful, courageous, and independent, and also goes against gender and social norms that building things is a job for men because it is masculine. It can encourage female readers to go against social norms it comes to being creative and doing a 'masculine' job of building things. However, in general, it presents to young readers to be creative in their own way and to the pride in doing things that they truly enjoy.

With an adventurous spirit, young Ruby sets off to build something great! She asks her brothers for help in every step throughout her creating and building process but they all seem to be too busy to help, reminding her that she doesn't know how to build anything. With her mind set on her goal of building something amazing, Ruby conquers her mission and builds a delightful fort out of wood that she found. She then asks her brothers if they want to play and to no surprise they are all excited to play. She pauses for a moment and reminds them that no one wanted to help her along the way so maybe they are still too busy to play with her in her fort now. Ruby played alone in her new fort and to her surprise her brothers got to work on the outside of the fort, making it even more gorgeous. After seeing their hard work Ruby allows them to play in the fort with her and they all enjoy their hard work together.
This is a great lesson to teach children that if you help, you can enjoy the pleasures of your hard work.

This is a modern retelling of the classic fable The Little Red Hen. The author’s note at the end tells the reader how the story came about which is lovely. While reading I thought it was a bit of the Little Red Hen tale mixed with the Ada Twist, Iggy Peck, and Rosie Revere series. I liked it. IT was well done and the illustrations grew on my be the end of the book.

Follows the folktale of the Little Red Hen, only she is building a fort...