"The familiar story of the busy little hen and her three lazy friends is delightfully illustrated with pictures that have color and vitality, the humor of the story is extracted in full and most evident in the faces of the dog, cat, and mouse. The setting is a dilapidated farmhouse, and the text and pictures are nicely correlated: Galdone at his best." The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Every mother has her day, and the freeloading cat, dog and mouse their comeuppance, in fresh, expressive pictures that do full justice to the enduring tale. . . . The industrious hen provides the action, and it's all played out in a minutely realized dilapidated old farmhouse and a sunny yard that fairly leaps with wheat and weeds and flowers." Kirkus Reviews with Pointers

"This imaginative rendition will surely help sustain the popularity of this old favorite." School Library Journal, Starred