Little Red Riding Hood [ペーパーバック]

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.