The Wolf's Chicken Stew

A wolf has a plan to fatten up a chicken before he plops her in his stew, but his plan goes awry in a silly way.

My daughter liked this story when she was three, but then and now I was pulling for the tasty stew. Happy ending be damned, I choose to believe the wolf is just playing the long game in order to have an endless supply of soup stock down the road.

A wolf with a craving for chicken stew sees a chicken and is about to grab her when he decides that there would be more stew if the chicken were fatter. He makes pancakes, doughnuts, and cake, and leaves them at the chicken's front door. When he goes to Mrs. Chicken's house to collect his dinner, he finds that Mrs. Chicken has been feeding all of his delicious treats to her chicks. They thank him for all the wonderful treats. Mrs. Chicken fixes the wolf a nice dinner, and he goes home planning what he will make for the little chicks tomorrow. I thought the fattening up idea was clever of the wolf and reminiscent of another Fairy Tale, Hansel and Gretel; however, I also liked the change of heart for the old familiar villain. I would use show more this book as a mentor text for discussing all the story elements: character, setting, problem, attempts to solve the problem, solution. show less

The story opens with a stereotypical wolf character, a predator not to be trusted. The author writes, "As soon as he finished one meal, he began to think of the next" (Kasza 1). The illustrations capture the wolf's expressiveness as he goes hunting for his next victim. The wolf is practically perched along the edge of the page as he spies on a chicken, creating a sense of foreboding. Along the way he suffers a moral dilemma. The wolf's devious plan to "fatten up a chicken" backfires and he learns to value other lives. I enjoyed this story because it was a twist on the typical wolf books and the reader can easily ascertain the wolf's inner thoughts through the illustrations of his body language. The story shifts from a scary tale to a show more comedy for kids. I think this would be a wonderful read aloud story for elementary classrooms, to study illustrations and foreshadowing. By the end the wolf feels a bond with the chickens and he wants to cook for them to make them happy. show less

This book made me smile! This is Kasza's first published book in America and it's pretty great! The art is pleasant and entertaining to look at, and even kids who are having a hard time reading on their own will like flipping through it just for the fun pictures.

Plot: The main character is a wolf who absolutely loves to eat! He decides he wants to have chicken stew, and finds a chicken that he plans on devouring. At the last minute, he decides she isn't plump enough and before he eats her he wants to fatten her up. He begins to anonymously drop off delicious pastries in large quantities at her coupe, and on the day he decides to come back to see if she's grown plump enough he finds out instead that he has been feeding the delicacies to show more her many, many children. Mama Chicken feeds him dinner, and he bashfully leaves thinking to himself that maybe he'll keep baking them food.

I feel like this would be a good book to start a discussion with children about doing the right thing, their favorite foods, and how it can feel good to make things for other people. show less

A very cute story featuring the hungry, sneaky wolf and the meager, unwitting chicken. In this version, the wolf puts his efforts into fattening up the chicken. The plan backfires when he discovers he has been feeding a houseload of baby chicks who appreciate him so much he can't bear to eat any of them. The story is fun and this take on the wolf-versus-chicken tale is creative and enjoyable. I could see the opportunity to share this with my fourth-graders to inspire them to recreate other popular fairy tales or fables.

Mr. Wolf is a glutton. He spots a chicken and decides to fatten her up before consuming her. Over the course of three days, Mr. Wolf drops an enormous amount of food on the chicken's porch. When he actually goes in for the kill, he finds out that the chicken's children ate it all, and even more they are thankful that he brought the food for them. He doesn't have the heart to kill and eat the chicken now. Question is, what does poor Mr. Wolf eat? Has he gone vegetarian?

This is a good book for younger children (K-2). It's a cute book about how a wolf tries to fatten up a chicken by baking delicious food for her. He wants her to be nice and fat for his stew, but his plan backfires. Instead, he is thanked by the mama hen and her dozens of chicks when he goes to get the chicken. They are happy, and he feels too bad to have chicken stew.