Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2007, p. 32.

Book Summary: A sweet little girl meets a hungry wolf in the forest while on her way to visit her grandmother.

Since Little Red Riding Hood is a retelling, this version has some aspects I don’t remember seeing before. For example, the wolf eats both Grandmother and Little Red. I thought the funniest line of the book came after the wolf had eaten Grandmother and Little Red is at the door. In part of her response to the wolf she says, “Soon you’ll feel just like yourself again!” and since he’s not Grandmother, that line amused me. It was also interesting that such a gory story could be told in such soft muted colors.

I thought the books’ illustrations looked cold and wet. Sometimes the pages felt like snow had been dripped on them. The colors were woodsy brown, deep green, deep red, and deep blue, with lots of white. The setting seemed perfect for a wintry walk in the woods. I loved the bright colors of Grandmother’s quilt in contrast.