Was Red Riding Hood all that great? Was she really doing a good deed by taking Granny dinner? Was the Wolf all that Big and Bad?
I came across Honestly, Red Riding Hood was Rotten! The Story of Red Riding Hood as Told by the Wolf by Trisha Speed Shaskan one evening while I was looking at NetGalley and was immediately drawn to it. I love fable/fairy tale retellings, and think its a great way to covertly teach your students about point of view.
The Big Bad Wolf states that he is an apple loving almost-vegetarian, who hadn't eaten in weeks, and that Red Riding Hood was really a vain little stinker.
I loved the illustrations by Gerald Guerlais. They reminded me of old (50's) cartoons. They were created digitally and are my favorite part of the book.
However, if the goal of this book was to make us feel sorry for the Wolf, or to better understand his predicament, I feel that it fell short. The Wolf explains that things look different when you are hungry, but ate Red and her Granny because he didn't want to eat any woodland creatures and it was a long time until apple harvest.
There are many other "twisted fairy tale books" that I prefer. Its not a bad book, it just left me wanting more. I'm torn as to whether or not my students would enjoy this book. I think they would feel the same way I do, that the illustrations were great but the story was missing something.
Publication info:
| Title: |  | Honestly, Red Riding Hood Was Rotten! |
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| SubTitle: | | The Story of Little Red Riding Hood as Told by the Wolf |
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| Publisher: | | Capstone |
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| Imprint: | | Picture Window Books |
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| Pub Date: | | 08/01/2011 |
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| ISBN: | | 9781404866737 |
*I downloaded this book for free via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review*
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