The Hen who Dreamed She Could Fly

Sprout is a hen whose only desire and hope in life is to raise her own chick. From the coop in which she lays her daily eggs, Sprout can almost taste the freedom that she sees in the barnyard. Then one anxious day, when the end of her egg laying days means certain death, Sprout unexpectedly finds herself free and on the run. The barnyard, she discovers, is not the happy place which she had anticipated, but a place of hierarchies, prejudice and fear.

Undeterred, Sprout forms a strong friendship with Straggler the duck and when his mate falls prey to the ever-present threat of the weasel, Sprout hatches her egg and adopts the duckling. She is a loving, loyal and courageous mother, determined to raise Baby in the face of adversity. Her end comes in a glorious act of self-sacrifice which buys freedom for her duckling, now grown and able to fly away.

Although the anthropomorphic tale is a well-worn genre, and although the translation can sometimes stilt the narrative flow, this is a moving and heart-warming tale about family, growing up, life and death. The themes are manifold and form a dense subtext – it is difficult to define it as solely modern fable as it is also a metaphor for brave motherhood.

Translated from its original language of Korean, it has sold more than two million copies worldwide. It would be enjoyed by confident readers as an animal story in its own right, but it has also developed a wider audience with older readers who are drawn into its underlying complexity.