Teresa HeapyCritiques

Red Riding Hood is not just little, she is very little and she is headed to her grandmother’s house for a sleepover! Along the way she runs into none other than the wolf, but Red will let nobody get in the way of visiting her grandmother. Very Little Red Riding Hood takes the classic story we all know and gives it an adorable, lovable twist.

The idea behind Very Little Red Riding Hood is super cute but I wish it had been executed a little better. I love that Wolf is unable to resist the charm of Red and becomes her friend but I had some issues with the dialogue. Red’s toddler-speak, while accurate, is not a good way to teach children how to speak and read. Picture books are supposed to help children learn and develop their literacy skills and using words like ‘lello’ instead of the proper word, ‘yellow’, does not do much to encourage a toddler to speak properly.
The illustrations of Very Little Red Riding Hood, in my opinion, are what carried the story. They were simple but effective in giving the story life with it’s old–school feel. Overall, Very Little Red Riding Hood was enjoyable and despite the issues I had with it

Such a fun little adaption. E. spent minutes(and for her that's good) looking at it.

Very Little Red Riding Hood is taking food to her grandmother's for a sleepover. On her way she meets a friend... or, perhaps, an enemy. You have to read to the end to find out. This was a charming little tale that doesn't quite abandon the opportunity for a small, but fun, lesson at the end.

I enjoyed this titles idea, but the rhyme scheme and meter left something to be desired. One or two more editing passes of the text might have made this a four or five star book.

It's very cutesy as we're given a very young version of Red Riding Hood who acts and speaks very much like a four-year-old (or thereabouts). I enjoyed the repetition and flow of the words as I read it aloud and got a kick out of the sweet innocence of this twist of the traditional story.

I read this story several times to a 2-1/2 year old. He wasn't familiar with the original tale, so some of the twists (e.g. the wolf being so amiable; a modern, active Grandma) obviously didn't mean anything and any irony was lost. Which led me to wonder, what audience did the author have in mind? Perhaps even more importantly, is this amusing-to-adults spin "A Good Idea"? I'm of the mindset that fairy tales were originally fables of warning and life's lessons, so don't please cutesy up a wolf or a fox. McKinley's 'Spindle's End' is a fine example of a reworked fairy tale that is much more effective and does not lead the reader into error. Having criticized the story, my young audience enjoyed the book and the illustrations were captivating.

A spin on the classic fairy tale: Red Riding Hood is extra small, and extra precocious. No Big Bad Wolf is getting in the way of visiting Grandma!

funny version of little red riding hood!

I liked this book for many reasons. The story was very easy to read and there were several great text features such as illustrations, speech bubbles and bold lettering, which really increased the quality of the book. The text feature that stuck out to me the most was the author’s use of font size. Every time something was being screamed, the font was much larger. For example, “NOOO!” screamed Very Little Red Riding Hood. I also noticed that because the illustrations were amazing, if a child was struggling with reading the book, they could have still easily understood the storyline just by the following along with the pictures. The story was written in 1st person. Very Little Red Riding Hood was going to her Grandmama’s house and she encountered a wolf. She was not scared of the wolf and he was shocked. Very Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf walked to her Grandmama’s house together. Very Little Red Riding Hood went inside and told her Gramma that a wolf was at the door. Her Grandmama would not let the wolf in but Very Little Red Riding Hood convinced her otherwise. They then enjoyed tea and games together before they all fell asleep. Although Little Red Riding Hood should not have talked to a stranger (the wolf,) I feel as if a great lesson still comes from this book. It is important that students “do not judge a book by its cover.” Although wolves have a bad reputation, we should all give people a chance, just like Little Red Riding Hood did.