Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls [Hardcover]

Danielle Wood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 13, 2007

Charming and thoroughly modern, Rosie shares with us her piquant and utterly engaging views on life and love, marriage and mating, desire and destiny as she tackles the sometimes thorny business of making her way through life. These are not, I should say at the outset, tales written for the benefit of good and well-behaved girls who always stick to the path when they go to Grandma's. Skipping along in their gingham frills - basket of scones, jam and clotted cream upon their arms - what need can these girls have for caution? Rather, these are tales for girls who have boots as stout as their hearts, and who are prepared to firmly lace them up (boots and hearts both) and step out into the wilds in search of what they desire. Taking her cues from the Brothers Grimm, Rosie - a thoroughly modern Little Red Riding Hood - tells us of love and desire, men and women, heartache and happiness. Beguiling, clever and funny, Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls is a sheer delight. With wit, simplicity and directness, Rosie offers her clear-eyed, slyly funny and rueful take on life, love and everything in between.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Linked anecdotes about the perils of young womanhood from Australian author Wood trendily play off of antediluvian diction and antiquated women's advice columns, but actually possesses some hard-won wisdom. Divided into themes such as virginity, truth, art, commitment, marriage and loss, the tales treat the predictable muddle of female experience, though in the feisty literary persona of not such a "good girl." Indeed, the first story, "The Deflowering of Rosie Little," finds the narrator, at 14, eager to look up Latin words in the dictionary used in sexual relations, losing her virginity in the most demeaning fashion at a party to a coarse lager lout who offers her a popular cocktail for girls called "Rene Pogel" (read it backward). In another wacky tale that goes off the rails into reality, "Rosie Little in the Mother Country," the narrator, now 17, is sent for a long visit to her childless godparents' house back in England, where the joyless, emotionally numbed couple finds Rosie's sexual vivacity unnerving and finally insupportable. Despite corny sidebars on penis sizes, pubic hairstyling, and "Nominative Determinism" (you are what you're named), Wood addresses real issues: domestic violence, abortion and the desire to be married with children, among others. What emerges is a sense of destiny for Rosie, a woman who works hard-as a newspaper reporter and an assistant purser on an American cruise ship, among other things-and senses intuitively that a life of heartstrings' unraveling is surely worth a pull or two.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Rosie, a Little Red Riding hood type with lace-up Doc Martens instead of scones, narrates this story collection for the smart, strong female who can't help getting into trouble... Wood's prose reads as powerful, funny, and real... Rosie may have 'a difficult relationship with the word eclectic,' but that's what this book is. In a good way. Grade: A-" --Entertainment Weekly

"...emotionally pitch-perfect...[The stories] are funny and moving, and original enough to cover long-trampled territory like virginity and domestic abuse and seem new...get it and you'll have the smartes book at the beach." --Santa Cruz Sentinel

"Wood's collection of linked short stories makes a delightful trek through the life of bad girl Rosie Little...A clever and wickedly amusing character...Wood's writing is succinct, elegant, witty, and wonderfully suited to the form. Highly recommended." --Library Journal STARRED review

"...emotionally pitch-perfect...[The stories] are funny and moving, and original enough to cover long-trampled territory like virginity and domestic abuse and seem new...get it and you'll have the smartes book at the beach." --Santa Cruz Sentinel

"Wood's collection of linked short stories makes a delightful trek through the life of bad girl Rosie Little...A clever and wickedly amusing character...Wood's writing is succinct, elegant, witty, and wonderfully suited to the form. Highly recommended." --Library Journal STARRED review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 255 pages
• Publisher: MacAdam/Cage (July 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596922524
• ISBN-13: 978-1596922525
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,199,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "But what precisely does an aquiline nose look like?", August 15, 2007

By 

Amanda Richards (Georgetown, Guyana) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls (Hardcover)

According to Rosie's research, the aquiline noses that stick out snottily from the pages of numerous works of great fiction indicate a strong will, independence and the promise of prosperous mid-years. This, however, is no snotty work, and is not for perfect "girls" (and by "girls" I mean females between the ages of 16 and 120.) Nope, good little girls need read no further, because this book isn't for you.

These short and snappy, no nonsense stories cut straight to the good stuff - from the deflowering of a naïve maiden in a liaison more comical than dangerous (just ask Rene Pogel), to a bride defying logic in an attempt to make a good impression - Rosie Little's life journeys will strike you as funny, peculiar, poignant and bewitching, all at once.

Topics covered also include Truth (big girls and white elephants), Travel (tragic adventures in the English countryside), Beauty (a model romance), Art (Eve by the numbers), Love (who's afraid of the big, bad wolf?), Commitment (wax and wail), Work (spinning copy from rumor), Longing (romancing the stone), Loss (for the love of Kate) and finally, Destiny.

A great book for the times when a long reading session isn't in the cards, Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls explores hidden recesses of the female psyche without ever being preachy or boring.


Amanda Richards, August 15, 2007

4.0 out of 5 stars CAUTION! These tales are not for little girls! :), November 28, 2009

By 

Amy E. Galante (Waltham, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls (Hardcover)

I devoured Rosie Little. Its heroine, fictional Aussie lass Rosie Little, delivers these clever moral tales with spunk and wit. With her lace-up cherry red Doc Martens, Wood has created a new character than may inspire readers akin to Elphalba of Gregory Maguire's novel, 'Wicked.'

5.0 out of 5 stars Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls gave me the giggles and the chills..., February 27, 2008

By 

Laura Love "lulu" (Ithaca, New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls (Hardcover)

I bought this book for the cover and the first chapter combined. Not being a serious reader I was a bit surprised that I couldn't put the book down. Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls initially gave me the giggles. But very quickly I found Rosie's dark side, and found myself with a case of the heebie-jeebies.
The series of short stories is an incredible journey through womanhood. It leaves no painful story untold, and no tear unwept. Danielle Wood is an author to be honored.