Cloaked in Red

Gr 7–10—"Little Red Riding Hood" may be one of the best known fairy tales, but not the best written by any means. Velde expands on this premise, pointing out that in the original tale the characters are never named and are not exceptionally memorable, no vivid setting is used, and the plot is not especially exciting. She explains her purpose in a tongue-in-cheek introductory note, pointing out some of the basic flaws of the tale. She also notes that the original tale is probably too "strange and disturbing" to be shared with children. These problems inspired her to tell eight new versions of the story (Amazon Children's Pub., 2011). The only things her twisted fairy tales have in common with the original are the basic characters and the red hooded cloak. For example, in the first story, the woodcutter is the unsavory character, trying to steal the coveted red cloak, and the girl is saved by the wolf. In another version, the grandmother turns into a werewolf. Listeners will be thoroughly entertained by these stories with their twists, turns, and unexpected endings. A few of these tales seem to end too quickly. Laura Merlington does a great job of voicing the various characters in each tale. Listeners will enjoy all the clever plots.—Sheila Acosta, Cody Library, San Antonio, TX