Adorably cute and fun illustrations accompany a narrative that begs to be read aloud to this book a great choice for everyone. This book is delightful and readers will soon find themselves cheering both Gwen and Mateo on their adventures. Leslie Crawford tackles a tough subject with ease and Sonja Stangl’s sweet artwork renders the right touch and mood to the narrative (from dark colors when Gwen is caged to vibrant colors later). All the sounds and sights in this book make it a great one to read aloud!

Don’t miss the backmatter which includes fun chicken facts and more about the story itself. And yes, look for the other chickens hiding in pages across the book!

Disclaimer: I got a digital review copy of this book from Netgalley originally and these are my honest opinions of the book. Please note that the review is based on a more recent reading of the book (library/personal copy)

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in Exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the pictures in this book. I didn't think the story was as good as the pictures.

This is a delightful story, it was easy to read and had some really nice, bright and clear images that young children will love. Four stars from me.

The story was promising --chickens get rescued after a tornado destroyed their farm-- but the writing was heavy-handed and trying too hard to be funny.

Examples from the very first pages of the book: "Suddenly, a chilly draft slides over Hen, giving her goosebumps. Which is funny since she's a chicken. But this is no laughing matter". Or "She doesn't remember how she got here. She doesn't remember being born, but who does?" Or "I might be doomed! thinks Hen". The text is also scattered all over the place, which makes it unpleasant to read.

The first pages were very scary for children and used a lot of complex words. The illustrations were black and white, to set the tone, and felt quite claustrophobic. It was also very cynical for the chicken to land on a chicken restaurant, after being thrown away from the tornado.

Little by little, the colors become more pleasant and the story more appealing, as the chickens get rescued and start living a free life with their new family. I loved learning about chicken's habits, personality and behaviors, and I appreciated the author's note at the end of the book to learn even more about them. Still, I disliked reading this book and I would not recommend it.

<i>*Thank you NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*</i>

Enjoy with a plate of scrambled tofu!

“Come on, Gwen,” says Mateo, as he helps settle her onto the handlebars. Let’s hit it! she thinks. Let’s fly.

***

Hen is suffering a pretty miserable existence when a natural disaster proves her salvation. Imprisoned in a battery cage and exploited as a laying hen, Hen shares a tiny cage with half a dozen or so of her sisters. Everywhere Hen looks, she sees rows upon rows and stacks upon stacks of hens. Hen’s only freedom – her only escape from the chaos and filth of her prison – is in her dreams.

That is, until the day a tornado lifts Hen’s cage from the giant, industrial shed in which it’s housed and deposits Hen and her companions in a beautiful green field. The girls scatter, but not before a boy and his friends spot Hen. After a tense stand-off and a few close calls, Hen learns to trust the human boy called Mateo. Newly christened Gwen, Hen and the Boy become best friends, enjoying swims in the river (or, in Hen’s case, dust baths on the shore), roosting/reading marathons, and social calls.

Based on the destruction of an egg farm in Croton, Ohio, GWEN THE RESCUE HEN is a sweet and beautiful tale of friendship – and compassion. Gentle enough for young readers (Hen’s time as a cog in the machine of animal ag is indeed morose – as emphasized by the black and white palette – but handled with care, and with the more horrifying details omitted), the story is also educational, with plenty of facts about chickens sprinkled throughout. By giving a name to a bird – one of five billion such animals living in American battery cages at any given time – the authors affirm Gwen’s personhood: she is a someone, not a something. This shouldn’t be a novelty, and yet.

GWEN THE RESCUE HEN is a wonderful choice for vegan families, or for any parent or guardian wishing to instill a sense of compassion in their young children. And the artwork is super-adorable too!

This book displays what great pets chickens can be, something I know from first hand experience. I've had chickens most of my life and not only do they give back with fresh eggs that are healthier than those bought in the store, chickens are inexpensive and easy to care for, and have the ability to show love and entertain. My family has had chickens that love to be held and pet. In this book a boy finds and adopts a chicken that has been misplaced by a storm, and the two become great friends. Like the story, the illustrations in this book are sweet and simple. I highly recommend reading this to young children.

This book starts off sad and slow but ends fun and happy. Some Chickens are kept in cages all their life. They barely have room to move. But Gwen is going to get lucky, after first getting really unlucky. Follow our chicken Gwen as she discovers the world outside of her cage. It’s sure to put a smile on your face.

A hen dreams of flying, but is rudely woken up by a tornado that sends her out into the world. After being ignored by a giant artificial version of herself, she’s befriended by a boy, and more shenanigans ensue.
I had imagined from the title that the hen would be rescuing others, but not so. The story is silly but endearing, especially the way the boy and the hen hang out.
The artwork is strange, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. For one, the start is done negative style: the background is black and the lines are white inside the chicken coop. Said chicken coop shows long lines of hens at work, but on first impression they looks like music staffs.
Special section at the end on chicken facts. Did not know chickens can see in UV! Imagine the research to find that out. . .
3.5 pushed up to 4/5

Good illustrations. A hens; adventure from its cage in a factory to a home.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

We meet a hen named Gwen, who lives in a big chicken farm, packed in with tons of other chickens. A tornado destroys the farm & displaces the chickens, which leads to her escaping & meeting a young boy named Mateo. Mateo takes in the hen, names her Gwen, and gives her a good & happy life.

The book was cute, but it felt disjointed to me. There are two clear parts - the cruel chicken farm, and Mateo's home. I felt like there wasn't really a connection here. There were parts that were really dark & acted as a commentary on these chicken farms, but then there were really light parts about friendship. It didn't really work for me.

I also wasn't a fan of the font. The illustrations were cute (and served their purpose for setting the scene in the beginning when everything was very dark), but the text is tiny & hard to read.

I did really enjoy the chicken facts at the end of the book! I thought these pages were interesting & it was my favorite part of the book.

Gwen the Rescue Hen was just okay. The cover and blurb looked promising, but the execution didn't quite work for me.

In the story, we follow Gwen, a hen who is displaced after a tornado rips through her home in a massive chicken farm. Gwen slowly learns about the outside world and eventually befriends a young boy who takes her home with him. At the end of the book are some interesting facts about chickens (this is probably my favourite part of the book).

I'm sure that this will be a hit with some kids, especially those who love to absorb new facts, but I found the book lacks a bit of focus. Some parts are super silly, while others are actually pretty dark. Some pages are overloaded with text, while others have just a few words. Unfortunately, because of those pages with so much text, the font size is necessarily on the small side, which made this more difficult to read.

In the end, I didn't come away with any clear message -- was this about making friends? Maybe about the cruelty of poultry farms? Possibly how humans and chickens are similar? I really don't know. So my final verdict is a middle of the road rating of 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Stone Pier Press for providing me with a DRC of this book.

A delightful read for children and chicken lovers alike!

Gwen the Hen goes from factory farm living to wing flapping freedom in this adventure and it's sure to put a smile on little faces.

The book doesn't get too dark and scary with the realities that face Gwen in her caged living, just touches on her life as a hen in the dark confines her warehouse. Then thankfully, as though Oz sent, a tornado appears and liberates Gwen and her cell mates from their captivity and gives them a chance at a real life full of true chicken activities.

I loved the book and can't wait to send a copy to my friends 4 year old, I'm sure it's going to become a bedtime classic.

This is a really cute book. While it does begin in a kind of depressing tone, with Hen (as she's called at the beginning of the story) living in a small cage on a factory farm, things soon start looking up for this plucky chicken. After a tornado destroys her barn and lands her cage on the seemingly untouched Ma's Chick'n Lick'n Diner (you do have to suspend disbelief a little bit), she and a few of her friends are suddenly free. She meets a boy named Mateo and goes home with him, where she learns to be a chicken and do what chickens naturally do.

When I started reading, the illustrations were all in black and white and looked like sketches; I was kind of afraid someone had forgotten to put the final illustrations in the book! But things soon brightened up; the drab pictures in the beginning are merely a reflection of Gwen's drab life. The drawings are simple, but very cute. The illustrator even managed to make all the chickens look different, so you could tell where Gwen was when she was with the others.

There are a couple of pages at the end with facts about chickens, and that may have been my favourite part. I knew they were intelligent, but chickens are really fascinating birds.

Overall, this is a really strong children's book. Despite being about a hen who escapes a factory farm, it doesn't really hit the reader over the head with any sort of animal rights message; instead, it's a gentle story about kindness and friendship and... well, just letting chickens be chickens.

This book is so wonderful! The only reason a reader wouldn’t give it five stars is because of the uncomfortable truth about factory farming and animal cruelty it presents. The issue is handled delicately for young readers, but is honest enough that empathetic children will have a lot of questions afterwards. The addition of true chicken facts and the real event that inspired this book make this educational as well as enjoyable. The illustrations are fun and compliment the story’s whimsical feel.

Hen is a dreamer. The only thing she's known is the dark room full of other hens, all of them barely able to stand and turn around, and yet she dreams of flying.
Little does Hen know her dream will come true when a tornado takes the roof off the factory she lives in and her cage is sent on an amazing adventure - and a chance for a better life! When the cage lands, Hen and her friends find themselves outside for the very first time and experiencing the breeze and warmth of the sun ...and a dog chasing them!
A boy named Mateo introduces himself to Hen (who he names Gwen) and invites her and her flock to come to his house, which is the start of a sweet friendship told in simple sentences with fun and bright illustrations sure to capture the attention of young readers.

Inspired by the true story of hens who survived a tornado at a Croton, Ohio egg-laying factory farm, Gwen the Rescue Hen will charm readers with its story of new beginnings and friendship.
I think this children's book also has a wonderful message about treating all animals - whether in the food production cycle or a pet - humanely, and includes a page of interesting facts to educate all readers. I was excited to learn this book is part of a series for children called Farm Animal Rescue and look forward to reading more with my four year old.

Thanks to Stone Pier Press and NetGalley for providing an ARC for review purposes. Gwen the Rescue Hen is scheduled for publication on October 12, 2018.

Gwen the Rescue Hen
by Leslie Crawford
Stone Pier Press

This is a cute story about a hen who dreams about being able to fly and eventually ends up with a life better than the one she dreamt about. Some of the illustrations and plot points may be too dark for younger or more sensitive readers.

This was a great idea for a book (I have chickens, which is why I requested it). I can't quite put my finger on it, but the writing didn't quite sweep me into the story and the ultimate friendship. Perhaps fewer, more deliberately chosen words that really put a highlight on the images would have a bigger impact. I LOVED the cover and illustrations. As a heads-up, the Adobe Acrobat document that was downloaded for me had letters that were criss-crossing each other, so something is off about the formatting.

Full disclosure, I have had chickens for the past seven years, so I am a little picky about what I like and don't like in books about chickens.

So, when I say that this is a delightful picture book, with a very accurately described chicken, It comes from the heart.

The book is based on a real life incident of a chicken farm that got struck by a tornado and the chickens escaped and survived.

Chickens are amazing creatures, and this book plays on that. Just look a these pictures.

<img class="alignnone wp-image-4508 size-full" src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-01-at-11.20.37-PM.png" alt="chicken diner" />

<img class="alignnone wp-image-4507 size-full" src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Screen-Shot-2018-09-01-at-11.21.06-PM.png" alt="becoming part of the flock" />

And in the end, the chickens find a new home, with light and colors, something sthey didn't have in the factory farm.

Excellent choice for lovers of chickens, old and young.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Although beautiful and interesting, the layout of this picture book was not my cup of tea. I suggest reformatting the text and simplifying the storyline.

Gwen the Rescue Hen is a very cute story.
The only famous story I know of chickens is the 'sky is falling' one. it is beautiful to see the friendship between a human and a chicken. Readers go away with a realisation of how it takes time and trust to build a relationship. It is humorous to see chicken out of the coop and in the big wide world. It is ideal book for the age range of 4 to 7. There are some situations where you can count the chicken or find them when they are hiding.
The illustrations are very well done. Initially its dark and gloomy and then there is lot of color. You see water color sky. Nice contrasts. The dog chasing the chicken is a well done illustration. You can imagine the ruffled feathers.