The classic German fairytale, Little Red Riding Hood, is reimagined and retold in this engaging picture-book, given a Texas flavor in the process. The eponymous Little Red Hot, a young girl who loves red hot chili peppers, sets out to visit her Grandma, encountering Tall Tale hero Pecos Bill and Señor Lobo along the way. When she discovers Señor Lobo masquerading as her Grandma, Little Red Hot's action, in feeding him her hot pepper pie, soon has him in retreat...

Little Red Hot is the forty-ninth book I have read from prolific author Eric A. Kimmel, and the second European folk/fairy-tale transplanted to Texas, following upon his The Three Little Tamales. Interestingly enough, the scene in which Little Red Hot encounters Pecos Bill makes brief mention of the tamales, who appear on a corner of that same page. I found the story here entertaining, and particularly appreciated the use of food - the powerful chili pepper! - as a means of defeating the wolf. As I mentioned in my review of The Three Little Tamales, I often feel ambivalent about folktales which have been culturally or geographically transplanted, as I often wish that the author had devoted his energies to retelling a traditional tale from the culture or place in question, rather than giving an already well-known tale a new skin. To be honest, I picked this one up with that thought in mind, wondering whether the world really needed another version of Little Red Riding Hood. Happily, I ended up enjoying the story so much that I was able to overcome this feeling. The clever use of southwestern cuisine here, the appearance of Pecos Bill, the fact that Grandma is smart enough to escape on her own - these things made this feel more like a fractured fairy-tale, rather than just a transplanted one. Recommended to picture-book readers who enjoy fractured fairy-tales, or who are looking for stories set in Texas. ( )

Like many Eric Kimmel books, this is a fun rendition of a classic story. Kids will immediately recognize that it is a version of Little Red Riding Hood and enjoy predicting what will happen. Fan of Kimmel's other books will recognize cameos of the the Three Tamales and Senor Lobo (from The Three Little Tamales). As a teacher, this is great for teaching about how changing the setting or characters will change the story, as well as for predicting and comparing/contrasting ( )

a spin on the normal little red riding hood book.
1 book

Even cuter than it sounds, imo. Good author's note about the real story of hot peppers. I love that nobody got eaten or got their stomachs sliced open. Grandma was sick, but she wasn't slow. She jumped out the window and ran."" ( )

This story was a great read. I really liked it. The story was very similar to “Little Red Riding Hood” so if any student liked that book they would read this book. It had some Mexican culture in it, which is a reason I liked about it because it gave the story a twist to it. The story is about a girl named Little Red Hot who was visiting her grandma with a hot pepper pie however Senior Lobo had chased her grandma away and tried to fool Little Red Hot. However, he did not and Little Red Hot gave Senior Lobo some of the pie that made him go away. The language of this book really showed the readers where the story was taking place. Since it took place in Texas, the author used words such as “folks”, “ain’t”, and “howedy”. The language was also very descriptive. When Little Red Hot gave Senior Lobo the pie, the author explains the coyote “[hollering] so loud space aliens could have heard him over in the next galaxy”. These words really added to the story. The illustrations were also really connected to the story. They showed Little Red Hots facial expressions extremely well. It also showed the audience what was going on so they could better comprehend what they were reading. The big idea of this story is to show the audience to never lie or try to hurt someone because it never is a good thing. ( )