Red Riding Hood Takes Charge

by Tony Bradman, Sarah Warburton (Illustrator)

Overview

Little Red Riding Hood is worried about her Granny. Granny’s recovered from her scare with the Big Bad Wolf, but she’s lonely. Thankfully Little Red Riding Hood is on the case! She is ready to find her Granny some new hobbies and some new friends. This fractured fairy tale provides a fresh perspective on a well-known tale.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781434213082
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	01/01/2009
Series:	After Happily Ever After Series
Pages:	56
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.31(d)
Lexile:	AD620L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 11 Years

About the Author

Christianne Jones is an award-winning author of books for younger children. Her picture book Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker won a 2013 Gelett Burgess Award and was a Midwest Book Award finalist, and Hello, Goodbye, and a Very Little Lie was listed as one of the 100 best children's books by popular parenting site babble.com. Christianne lives in Mankato, Minnesota, with her husband and three daughters.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 2-4

Humorous and charming, these "what happens next" fractured fairy tales inject the world of fantasy with a silly dose of reality. In Mr. Wolf , fatherhood ruins the big, bad wolf's appetite for mayhem. Finding himself out of work, he goes to an employment agency and tries several ill-fitting careers before landing the perfect job with three little pigs. In Red Riding Hood , Granny is lonely. Feeling guilty, her granddaughter tries visiting after school, locates a group for the woman to socialize with, and even signs her up with an online dating service, with little success. In the end, as in the original story, it's the Woodcutter who saves the day. Children will love that they are able to figure out the solutions to these stories long before the characters do. The cartoonlike black-and-white illustrations add interest and enhance the mood. Teachers will appreciate the discussion questions, writing prompts, and information on using FactHound to find Web sites, and the glossaries are perfect for elementary readers. Light on substance but full of fun, these books are great for students ready to jump into chapter books or who are looking for enjoyable, lighthearted reads.-Nicole Waskie, Chenango Forks Elementary, Binghamton, NY

School Library Journal

Not so much a fractured fairy tale as a wry contemporary sequel, this illustrated easy-to-read title in the After Happily Ever After series takes up the story after Granny is over her scare with the Big Bad Wolf. Now the problem is that she is lonely, so Little Red Hiding Hood visits often, even though it is not easy to fit trips into her schedule that is packed with school and friends. Little Red searches the Web for neighborhood activities, but Granny does not enjoy Senior Citizens Night. Nothing works, until Granny and Little Red realize what they have been missing all along: the nice, brave Mr.Woodcutter, who saved Granny’s life, is her favorite date, and they get married and live happily ever after. Reluctant readers will enjoy the play with the old tale (“My Granny! What a big smile you have!”), and the black-and-white drawings on every page place the story in a contemporary setting.

Booklist Online

Red Riding Hood notices that her grandmother doesn't seem as happy as she used to be. So she sets on a mission to find some new friends for her grandmother. Only, she seems to keep missing how interested the Woodcutter is in her grandmother. After a few different tries, Red Riding Hood realizes things are not going right at all. Finally, it dawns on her that Mr. Woodcutter would be the perfect person to be with her grandmother. I love the strong girl characters in these books. They're smart, funny, and very much go-getters. The illustrations are cute and it would be a great read for younger or struggling readers. Again, I recommend this series - After Happily Ever After - to any girls who love fairy tales. 5/5 Roses.

Bookworming in the 21st Century

It’s always fun to read the continuing adventures of a favorite character. This Red Riding Hood is still visiting her granny. She shows concern when her granny admits to a bit of loneliness living deep in the forest. Red Riding Hood tries to visit her granny more often but runs into trouble when she is late to swimming practice and on another day misses her piano lesson completely. Each time she walks through the forest to see her granny, she talks to the friendly woodcutter about her granny. While Red is trying to discover a solution to her granny’s loneliness, she completely misses an obvious friend for her granny—the woodcutter. The ending may not be a surprise, but it is fun none the less. The cartoon-like line drawings are playful and fun. The illustrator gives Granny an updated look, and the presence of a television and computer also modernize the story. Discussion questions and writing prompts are included at the end of the book. (After Happily Ever After.). Fiction. Grades 3-5. 2009

Heart of Texas Reviews

Each of these books and others in the series describes what happens to the characters after the original tale ends. Little Red Riding Hood and the three little pigs have gotten on with their lives, but Mr. Wolf and Granny are not doing well. The wolf has three cubs and a wife, but is having trouble finding a job. Granny is lonely until Red Riding Hood fixes her up with the woodcutter. Each character ends up living happily ever after. Children will enjoy looking at the refreshingly humorous drawings and will love that unexpected outcomes that give a new twist to the folktales. The entire series would be especially good for struggling readers. Teachers and librarians could use these titles for teaching sequence and predicting. The books contain a glossary, discussion questions, writing prompts, and Internet sites. Recommended.

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