Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly Summary and Reviews

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang, Chi-Young Kim (translator), Nomoco (illustrator)

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly

by Sun-mi Hwang, Chi-Young Kim (translator), Nomoco (illustrator)

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • Published:
  • Nov 2013, 144 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this book

Book Summary

This is the story of a hen named Sprout. No longer content to lay eggs on command only to have them carted off to the market, she glimpses her future every morning through the barn doors, where the other animals roam free, and comes up with a plan to escape into the wild - and to hatch an egg of her own.

An anthem for individuality and motherhood, The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly has captivated millions of readers in Korea, where it is a contemporary classic. Now the novel is making its way around the world, where it has the potential to inspire generations of readers the way Jonathan Livingston Seagull or The Alchemist have. And with Nomoco's evocative illustrations throughout, this first English-language edition beautifully captures the journey of an unforgettable character in world literature.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"The book explores the joys of parenthood and the sacrifices required to nurture the next generation, the healing bonds of friendship, and the tug-of-war between nature and nurture. Spare but evocative line drawings by the Japanese artist Nomoco add to the subtle charm of this slim volume." - Publishers Weekly

"A subtle morality tale that will appeal to readers of all ages." - Kirkus

"Recalling Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970), this slim but powerful tale will resonate with readers of all ages, who can take it at face value or delve deeper into its meditations on living courageously and facing mortality." - Booklist

"A very special little book. I absolutely loved it, and I find myself still thinking about Sprout." - Lisa See, author of the New York Times bestsellers Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, and Shanghai Girls

"Sometimes the simplest character, expressed in the sparest prose, embarks upon life's most heroic journey. Meet Sprout, a plucky hen whose modest dream to hatch a single egg will take her down a path that leads to her true place in the natural world." - Adam Johnson, author of the Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestseller The Orphan Master's Son

"This entertaining and plaintive tale is South Korea's Charlotte's Web for youth and adults alike." - Krys Lee, author of Drifting House

This information about The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Leah Kollo

Persepolis
Persepolis is the story of young Marjane Satrapi who finds herself in the midst of violence and rebellion from the Islamic Republic in Iran. This takes place right after the 1979 Iran Revolution and the downfall of the American-backed dictator called the Shah dictator. Under the Islamic Republic, many oppressive and religious rules had been put in place. Marjane attended a French co-educational and non-religious school, but western influences became outlawed. Women and girls were forced to wear a veil, especially in school. The girls at Marjane's song did not like the veil, neither did Marjane or her mother, who participated in a demonstration against the veil. Being imposed such rules at a young girl must've been very conflicting for Marjane. Her family was modern but she was "born in religion," she even believed to be a prophet and wrote her own "holy book" although all the previous prophets were men. At such a young age, Marjane stepped into the history of her ancient country.

Leah

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly is a story about a hen named Sprout who dreams of laying her own eggs. She escaped from the coop in hopes of living with the other barn animals. But she became an outcast because she lived in the coop and after she took the responsibility to raise her friend's Baby who was a duck, she became even more of an outcast. The barn animals represent the cultural and social restrictions that exist in the author's home country. The patriarchal society is based on ranking and seniority. Men dominate, as well as those from the upper class. Whereas, women and those of the lower class are looked down upon. The character Sprout was based off of the author's father, who died of cancer shortly before the book was published in 2000. The author's father struggled a lot in life, but he was able to raise his children with love. Before his death, he asked that a pot of rice be cooked and given to anyone who passed by. Sun-Mi Hwang portrayed this in her book when Sprout at the end died and her body served as food to some hungry animals. Although she died, Sprout got to raise her Baby and do everything she ever wanted. She died a happy and memorable death.

Diane S.

The Hen who dreamed she could fly.
South Korean novelette that can be read as a morality tale, a fable, or a metaphor. I just know that I absolutely adore Sprout, she is one plucky chicken that goes against the established routines at the farm to fulfill her desires. Of course she has quite a bit of luck and quite a few trials. It is a wonderful story about a mother's unconditional love. Setting what you love free and doing what you think is in the child's best interest, above your own wants and desires.

Wonderful little story with plenty of meaning and a wonderful cover.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Information

Sun-mi Hwang is a celebrated writer in South Korea, where she has published more than twenty books and won many awards. She lives in Seoul, South Korea.

Chi-Young Kim is the translator of the nationally bestselling Korean novel Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin. She lives in California.

Nomoco is a Japanese designer and illustrator currently based in London. She has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions in London, Milan, Tokyo, Singapore, and New York. She also produces work under her full name Kazuko Nomoto.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more literary fiction...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...
  • Book Jacket
    The Rest of You
    by Maame Blue
    At the start of Maame Blue's The Rest of You, Whitney Appiah, a Ghanaian Londoner, is ringing in her...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

Harvard is the storehouse of knowledge because the freshmen bring so much in and the graduates take so little out.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.