Little Red Henry

Well, there’s overprotective—and then there’s Little Red Henry’s family! A hilarious tale about what happens when a coddled kid asserts his independence.

Little redheaded Henry’s family treats him like a baby. They dress him. They feed him. They brush his “widdle toofers.” But he’s not a baby anymore. He’s a little boy who wants to do things for himself. So with his family watching anxiously from the wings, Henry sets out on a glorious day of independence. But will things swing too far in the other direction? In this charming reworking of the classic tale of the Little Red Hen, author Linda Urban and illustrator Madeline Valentine gently and humorously depict a family trying to find a middle ground between hovering over their youngest member and giving him room to grow.

Linda Urban is the author of the picture book Mouse Was Mad, an International Reading Association Children's Choice, and the middle-grade novels A Crooked Kind of Perfect, Hound Dog True, and The Center of Everything. A former bookseller, she lives in Vermont with her family.

Madeline Valentine is the author-illustrator of The Bad Birthday Idea. Painting and drawing have been her favorite activities since she was smaller than Little Red Henry. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.