MOWMT 1: Fair-Weather Fairytales with Lynne Marie
- rateyourstoryweb
- Mar 1
- 5 min read
You might have heard that, as far as stories, everything has been done before, and that
there’s nothing truly new under the sun. Well, that’s not exactly true! Yes, it’s correct that with most tales, there are countless variations that have been written before. But definitely, there’s room for more and the sky’s the limit!
When I decided to expand my Fairy Tale Elementary Series, my first step was to make a list of fairy tales that interested me. Then, I searched for related titles on Amazon. Of those on the list, Henny Penny (also known as Chicken Little) seemed to be present enough in my search, but also less fractured than others.
As you may know, the Henny Penny/Chicken Little tales are based upon a nervous chick who
causes unrest in the barnyard by crying out, “The Sky is Falling!”
Next, I had to consider – How would I make this fresh and new? The answer -- Mentor Texts, of course! But this required reading, researching, note-taking and thinking – not actual writing (yet). For my foundation research, I read as many original versions as I could to get a true sense of these stories. This step always proves interesting. You see the ways in which others challenge their creativity, or even sometimes, don’t! In this case, I often saw the demise of Henny Penny and the other poultry, due to trusting a fox! However, in today’s market, stories that sold in yesteryears often would not sell today. So where others might have retold the same or similar tale, with added animal sounds, enhanced rhyme, or different art, writers today face a bigger challenge.
Here are some variations I found:
In contrast with original versions of the tale where Foxy Loxy eats Chicken Little and the other poultry, Chicken Little, retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg (HarperCollins, 1987), allows the feathered friends to escape and the crafty antagonist Foxy Loxy gets what is coming to him. The addition of the hippolice and the engaging art in this makes for a new experience, as well!
In Henny Penny by Paul Galdone (Clarion Books, 2013), the tongue-twisting tale once again, disappointingly, features a feast enjoyed by the fox. The main character never learns a thing, and neither do her followers, so it is a cautionary tale.
And, like many of the other versions, the King is never told of the sky falling!
In Chicken Little by Mara Alperin, illustrated by Nick East (Scholastic, 2017), surprisingly retells the original tale but in a twist, the fox soon believes the sky is falling and runs for his life. Surprisingly, the King talks sense into the paranoid poultry and the fox is never seen again.
My last example of this tale, an internet version found here: https://www.thefablecottage.com/fables/chicken-little (year unknown) features a boy Chicken Little who is reading the news over breakfast and comes across a headline that the “sky is falling”! The MC e-mails the article to 1,000 of his friends, causing mass chaos. He and many of his friends run into the fox who asserts that what one reads must be true, and then he invites them to follow him to a hiding place. Needless to say, they end up in his belly, safe from the sky, but not from their own naivete. This proves a stronger version of the cautionary tale, which emphasizes not believing everything you read.
This last one intrigued me, as it took liberties -- which I wanted to do too. I replaced the acorn with a pea (ala the Princess and the Pea) and shifted the focus from poultry secondary characters to fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters that were connected to weather myths (two new layers with takeaway value). I swapped the king (who didn’t actually appear in most versions) with a teacher whose role it became to facilitate the return to order in the story (a believable plot point). Also, rather than have the secondary characters eaten (I’m a vegetarian and found that particularly distasteful and not helpful to kids), I decided to give the main character a character arc in which she would learn some coping skills for dealing with anxiety (another layer). And voila Henny Penny's Weather Worries (with art by the wonderful Wendy Carrick) was born!
The origins of my Henny Penny's Weather Worries would not be complete without me mentioning that it was also inspired by a class I took in college, the History of the Salem Witchcraft Trials. I had always wanted to write a book that taught children the lessons they needed to learn in order to avoid mass hysteria, and this was my attempt at that. And for those who are intrigued by that idea, here is a book that actually portrays that event in as kid-friendly a way as humanly possible. It Happened in Salem by Jonah Winter, Art by Brad Holland (Creative Editions, 2024). Although a much different and more serious treatment of the mass hysteria topic than mine, I wish I had written this book!
As you can see, Mentor Texts can be helpful in deciding what to do, what not to do, or in shining a light on what has not been done before. I truly hope you enjoyed hearing how this story came to life.
Visit last year’s March On With Mentor Text Post, Lynne Marie Starts with a Pea, here: https://www.rateyourstory.org/post/mowmt-lynne-marie-starts-with-a-pea
Lynne Marie is the award-winning author of picture books. Her recent book, BroomMates: A Brewing Boundary Battle (The Little Press 2024), is an honor book for the 2025 Anna Dewdney Read Together Award, has been awarded a 2025 CBC Favorite in K - 2 from Teachers, Kids and Librarians, as well as a winner in the Holiday Category of the 2024 Northern Lights Book Awards.
She’s an Editor at The Little Press, the Director of RateYourStory.org, a Mentor at ThePictureBookMechanic.com, the Creator of March On With Mentor Texts (www.rateyourstory.org/march-on) and Mentor Text Talk (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2705342229746385), a Co-Host of #SeasonsOfKidLit (www.seasonsofkidlit.com) and a Feature Columnist at Children’s Book Insider (https://writeforkids.online/).
PRIZE: Share this post on Social Media for the chance to win one of the following prizes - a submission opportunity to submit to her at The Little Press, a ½ Hour Ask Me Anything with The Picture Book Mechanic or a Rate Your Story Speedpass. Post the link in the comment section of this post. One grand prize will be given with all three prize components so be sure to share with friends and critique partners. Additional prizes may be added depending on # of participants!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:
LYNNE MARIE ON FACEBOOK:
LYNNE MARIE ON TWITTER: @Literally_Lynne
ON INSTAGRAM:
ON GOODREADS:
ON BLUESKY:
ON THREADS:
BONUS ENTRIES: NOTE: As you comment on each post, please note whether you have shared this post, bought the author's book for yourself or as a gift, whether you have followed our guest blogger or Rate Your Story on social media (and where), as well as whether you have left a review of the guest blogger's book (and where) for extra entries (for each show of support) and to be eligible for surprise prizes.
Feel free to click the links to buy the books mentioned and help support our Weekly Mentor Text Talks (OPEN TO ALL - Replays available to Rate Your Story Members only)! Thanks for sharing the #BookLove #MarchOn #MentorTexts #RateYourStory
Thank you very much for sharing your process, Lynne Marie.
Thank you for sharing some of the mentor texts (I know you read lots more!) that you used to help you create your own twist on the Henny Penny story. I love how you found your own theme and takeaways that are relevant to kids today!
I shared on X.
https://x.com/Literally_Lynne/status/2028106932548960370?s=20
Thanks for sharing the link to Fable Cottage. I loved seeing the stories that they had done.
Thank for sharing! I have a fairytale retelling series also. It's fun creating a unique ideas while adding fun twists!
Love this especially how you had gotten your new spark of an idea. I had shared this on my Facebook.