LITTLE WHITE HEN

How the sensible hen eludes the smug fox could be any of fifty folk tales but the big, bright illustrations are not only good to look at, they also add another dimension. Quite literally another dimension when the hen, perched at the top of a tall tree, looks down upon the fox circling round it. . . faster and faster. . . until she becomes so giddy that she falls. Later, in another canny use of perspective, the sleeping fox appears as the hen sees him--drawn in upon himself like a foetus, and momentarily powerless. That's when she uses her ever-ready scissors, needle and thread to escape from his sack and substitute stones. Nothing original, you see-just cheerfully, even forcefully done.