Celeste Hulme (illus.), Little Red Riding Hood (Happily Ever After), New Frontier Publishing, 1 July 2016, 24pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781925059564
This is Number Three of the Happily Ever After series, described as ‘a new twist on classic fairy tales’. In this version, Red Riding Hood does indeed visit her grandmother and finds that the wolf has been there before her. He hasn’t eaten Grandmother, however, and has merely pushed her inside a cupboard. When the wolf tries to eat Red Riding Hood, she runs to the cupboard, letting out her grandmother and what is described as an ‘avalanche’. The accompanying illustration tells the full story as we see books, a bicycle, a tennis racquet and balls, paint tins and even a saxophone come tumbling out. The wolf gets such a fright that he runs away, never to be seen again.
This Red Riding Hood goes to school and rides her bicycle with her mother, all the while wearing the little red coat and hood her grandmother has sent her. She still walks alone through the woods though to visit her sick grandmother and it’s there, as in the traditional tale, she meets the wolf who, in this version, is perhaps rather more cowardly than we are used to.
This version might lack some of the robustness of other modernised versions but it is fun and doesn’t feel too ‘sanitised’. Of course the originals of such fairy tales did have a lesson embedded in them – often in the not so happy ever after ending – which can be lost when it is changed to a ‘happy ever after’ as this one is called. However, there is still a strong sense of ‘stranger danger’ here, as Red Riding Hood unwittingly gives the wolf the information of where she is going and of her grandmother’s address.
The illustrations work well and complement the written text. The use of shadow works particularly well, as the small figure of Red Riding Hood is literally overshadowed by the looming outline of the wolf and the shadow of the wolf superimposed over a tiny illustration of Grandmother in bed is suitably menacing. The layout is varied and interesting and the use of double-page spreads effectively enhances the story as in the one which forms a kind of map showing the route between Red Riding Hood’s house and that of her grandmother. The bright red cover design evokes Red Riding Hood’s iconic cape and is enticing and eye-catching.
Teacher’s Notes are available on the New Frontier website.
Reviewed by Margot Hillel