Little Red by Bethan Woollvin (London, Two Hoots) $25
Little Red is a bold and clever heroine in this hilarious but slightly dark version of Little Red Riding Hood.
She proves her mettle from her first encounter with the wolf, who looms toothily over her as she makes her way through the forest to Grandma’s house. Now this “might have scared some little girls. But not this little girl.” This refrain appears throughout the story as Red encounters more scary situations. When she peeps into the cottage and sees a badly disguised wolf in Grandma’s bed, she is not fooled (or scared) for a minute. Instead, she makes a plan and confronts what turns out to be an overly confident wolf.
Here there is no woodcutter ready to leap to Red’s aid and she quickly demonstrates her resourcefulness. Fortunately, the woodcutter has left his axe behind and Red quickly uses it to deal effectively with the wolf.
On the final page, her new wolf costume says it all.
Bold black, grey and red drawings on a white background help to emphasize the dry humour of the text. The wolf is clearly up to no good – the double-page diagram of his thought processes show his dinner plans for both Red and Grandma.
Later, in an illustration which is not for the faint-hearted child, he happily engulfs Grandma in his jaws. Red’s expressions vary from an exaggerated eye roll at the wolf’s pathetic disguise to a toothy grin at the end of the story.
Attentive readers will note that the drawing of Little Red in the front endpapers differs from the one in the back. Give this to a young school-aged reader who is familiar with the original tale and wait for the giggles. Woollvin won the Macmillan Prize for Illustration in 2014 for her version of Little Red Riding Hood. The dust jacket informs the reader that she was inspired to write the book because she couldn’t believe any little girl would be taken in by the wolf.
Fran Ashdown was the children’s librarian at the Capilano branch of the North Vancouver District Public Library. She has always felt sorry for the wolf! For more information check your local libraries.
