Customer Reviews

Little Red Riding Hood

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am so glad I stumbled on to this version of "Little Red Riding Hood" and that my son and I will be able to enjoy it together for years to come. The illustrations are lush and evocative; the geraniums bloom off the pages and the calico-inspired borders make you want to cover up with a cozy quilt. The retelling is superb, as well, casting Little Red as a spunky yet polite heroine. Every child's personal library needs this story, and this is the best version of this timeless tale I've ever seen.

Little Red Riding Hood is a fairy tale that has been told and retold many times. Trina Hyman's version that she both retells and illustrates is based on the Grimm Brother's version. This version of Little Red Riding Hood contains a happy ending and a moral. There are two plots in this story: the visual and the textual. In Hyman's version (the textual story line), Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother are eaten by the wolf, but the huntsman saves them by cutting open the wolf's belly. Little Red Riding Hood learns to be careful of who she speaks to when she is alone in the woods, because strange wolves can not be trusted. Hyman places the text, surrounded by a border, on the left-hand page. The corresponding illustration is on the right-hand page. The visual story line involves main illustrations and borders that surround the text. The borders are designed after Pennsylvania Dutch folk art, common garden plants, and wallpaper, but they also "reflect the underlying meaning of the story". At the beginning and ending of the story, the colors included in the borders, such as yellow, green and pink, are full of life. This signifies that before her adventure, Little Red Riding Hood is full of life and afterwards, she receives a second chance at life when the Huntsman saves her. When Little Red Riding Hood is at her grandmother's house, the borders match something inside, such as an apron or quilt square. When she is in the woods, the borders have a nature theme. Those borders contain flowers, trees, and forest animals. Not only do picture books illustrate the text of the story; they can also create additional story material. For example, Hyman includes a black cat in every illustration. I find this to be significant because according to superstition, black cats bring bad luck. They have been known to draw lightning and are even witches in disguise sometimes. The black cat in this book follows Little Red Riding Hood wherever she goes. The cat can be seen peering out from behind trees, squatting in bushes, and walking with Little Red Riding Hood. Maybe the black cat is the bad luck that causes Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother to get eaten. Or, maybe the cat represents the narrator of the story. I believe the cat is not bad luck, but more of a guardian angel watching out for Little Red Riding Hood. The cat keeps an eye on Little Red Riding Hood on her way to her grandmother's house, and the cat seems to draw the huntsman's attention to the cabin. I feel that the Grimm Brother's version of Little Red Riding Hood is the best selection for Hyman. In my opinion, the happy ending and moral, make the story much more appealing.

Trina Hyman's lushly illustrated version of Grimm's tale of a young girl and her grandmother beset by a wickedly ravenous wolf is about as good as this tale gets. Fortunately for the reader, this Red Riding Hood avoids the politically correct fate of so many other modern versions of similar works.

Done with an Arts & Crafts flair, the illustrations are detailed and worthy of the Caldecott Honor award this book received. The text is relegated to a small box on every other page, giving plenty of space to enjoy the drawings.

I don't have the original Grimm text, so I cannot comment on how true to their text this work is. However, I can say that the wolf's snacking on Grandma and Red, plus his gruesome demise, is here in all its glory. Don't tell anyone from PETA.

If you are the kind of parent that loves classic tales wondrously retold, and doesn't want to sugarcoat life, then by all means get this one. It is lovely to look at and has a good moral base--just the way they used to make 'em.

It is so difficult to find these tales told with the original plot, and not made so happy and safe that the point gets lost. And there are important lessons from these tales. Does EVERY story have to end up with everyone living happily ever after? What is that teaching? My three year old loves the danger, gets the message and is not unduly frightened. The illustrations are charming and rich and spark her imagination. The wolf looks like a wolf and Little Red Riding Hood looks like a little girl, instead of saturday morning cartoons. Trina Hyman is a magnificant artist. This is the way I remember the story instead of so many of the modern versions when the wolf ends up being changed into a repentant and compliant friend - that is not how life is and this version is honest without indulging in gross violence.

As a teacher, I would not recommend reading this version of Little Red Riding Hood to younger children because I don't think it's suitable for a preschooler, kindergarten, or for a first grader to be listening to the ending: The hunter "raised his gun to shoot but then wondered... so he took out his knife and quickly killed the wolf while he lay sleeping. Then he carefully cut open the wolf's stomach. At the first cut, he saw the red velvet cloak, and after a few more slashes a little girl jumped out."
Also the way this author mentions the deaths: "He ran straight to the bed, and without even saying a good-morning, he ate up the poor old grandmother in one gulp.

"As the wolf said this, he sprang out of bed and ate up poor Little Red Riding Hood!"
I believe the book may be a little more suitable for older kids and it has excellent illustrations. I do recommend reading "Little Red Riding Hood" by Della Rowland. This book has two tales in one. The second tale is called "The Wolf's Tale", where the wolf tells his version of how Little Red Riding Hood actually occured. Della makes the story humorous and also allows you to give children a different perspective of the wolf being a much nicer and funnier character.

I thought that this was a really good book. It takes the original story to the next level. Where the story that I am use to reading you do not know the name of the little girl, or know how she gets the red hood, this story goes into greater detail of the facts and it lets you personalize more with the main character. I think that this is a good book for young children. The illustrations for the book were wonderful and colorful. This is an all around good book to read.

Parents vary on the version of Red Riding Hood they want to share with their kids. So, let me say up front, I wanted the one where the grandma gets eaten (not hides in the closet); where Red Riding Hood gets eaten (not rescued at the very last minute) and where the wolf gets killed (not runs away). If this is NOT for you, pick another version. Personally, I get mad when grandma hides in the closet (what....and doesn't jump out to intervene between her granddaughter and a ravenous wolf? She's either deaf or heartless......) I think Red Riding Hood needs to get eaten (natural consequences are great learning lessons.) And unless the wolf is killed and hauled off by the woodsman to be hung on his door, how do you know for SURE that he'll never, ever, ever return? My daughter is 3 and this is one of her very favorite bedtime stories. The illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman are lovely, with little homages to her Mimi hid within.

I purchased this book for my 4-year old. I looked at reviews and vaguely remember one person commenting on the gross ending, but I guess I must have looked over it somehow. So when we received the book in the mail, I was so excited to read the story that I grew up on... By the time we read the last few pages, I had to start explaining that this was the scary version of the story, and we'd have to look for the "happy" version. Fortunately I have a mature "4" who seemed to understand, but this story book almost seemed like it was written for adolescents... Not only did the wolf eat gramma AND Little Red, but a hunter came in and shot the wolf before cutting his belly open to get them out. I guess we were at least fortunate to find that they were still alive in the end.

This is a well illustrated and entertaining version of the old story. My 4 year old son enjoyed it. The adult reviewer who was "shocked" and felt he "should have been warned" needs to get a grip on reality. This is Little Red Riding Hood. The wolf wants to eat Red and Grandma. We all know the story. It is an adult's responsibility to completely read a children's book before handing it over or reading it to children. It isn't up to anyone else to "warn you." Please. Anyway, this is a fine version of one of the most fondly remembered fairy tales, not watered down or sanitized PC junk. I also recommend Paul Galdone's versions of The Three Little Pigs and The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

I love Trina Schart Hyman's illustration style. I appreciate her line quality and the depth she gets from her paints and the faces of her characters are so expressive. She gets so much detail into each page. It is fun to study each page and to see all that is happening as the story unfolds. I have always been an admirer of her stories.