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Carmine: A Little More Red

4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 · rating details · 113 ratings · 42 reviews

And, as Carmine takes off on her bicycle with Rufus, that is just what she intends to do. But Carmine is a dreamy painter, always in search of capturing just the right hue in her drawings, and this drawing—the one she begins in a lovely forest clearing just off the path to Granny’s—must be her best yet.

Here is a new, lively retelling of a timeless tale with enough twists...more

Hardcover, 40 pages

Published May 2nd 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

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Apr 14, 2013 Tyley Hunter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: picture-book

This story is a children’s picture book about a famous folk tale, Red Riding Hood, but told with a unique twist. Carmine sets out for her granny’s house and was told to not stop because there has been a wolf spotted in the forest. Although Carmine agrees, along the way she stops to paint a picture for her granny. While she was painting, Carmine’s dog ran into the wolf and told him about the delicious soup that granny was making, which included large bones. The wolf goes to granny’s house and tak...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Sarah Herranen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: picture-books

This book was creative in a teachable sense. It is another change up to the classical tale of Little Red Riding Hood. This book had an alphabet scheme and taught difficult vocabulary along the way. Each page had a new vocab word that would be great to teach in a classroom. The illustrations were very unique. The story also ties in some other folk tales in little comic type boxes in the pages, for example: The Three Little Pigs. The in-pages were my favorite. They were splotches of all different...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Sara Larson rated it 4 of 5 stars

In this alphabet book, based on the story Little Red Riding Hood, Carmine is invited to her Granny's house to eat alphabet soup for lunch. Her Granny tells her not to stop along the way. Carmine grabs her dog Rufus and her art supplies, and heads over to Granny's on her bike. On the way, Carmine notices that the light is perfect for painting. She stops, sets up her easel and canvas, and begins to paint Granny a picture. While she is busy painting, a wolf begins a discussion with her dog, Rufus....more

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Feb 18, 2012 Courtney rated it 4 of 5 stars

Carmine: A Little More Red is a modernized Little Red Riding Hood story. This book was published in 2005 and was written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet. What first caught my attention about this book was the cover art, and as I flipped through the pages I was hooked.

What caught my attention first were the illustrations, they are made from mixed media, including handmade papers, collage, and found objects. The cover includes a drawing of Carmine and her dog, Rufus, outlined by a picture frame....more Carmine: A Little More Red is a modernized Little Red Riding Hood story. This book was published in 2005 and was written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet. What first caught my attention about this book was the cover art, and as I flipped through the pages I was hooked.

What caught my attention first were the illustrations, they are made from mixed media, including handmade papers, collage, and found objects. The cover includes a drawing of Carmine and her dog, Rufus, outlined by a picture frame. The picture frame is on top of a piece of lined paper with doodles and red paint. Also on the cover are art utensils, including a pencil and two paint brushes. There is a lot going on in the cover, which attracts people instantly. On the endpapers, there are swatches of different art materials, all different shades of red including the names of the shades. The illustrations in the book include a vocabulary word in each one which is highlighted in bubble letters. The illustrations mostly show the meaning of the new vocabulary word. For example, one illustration shows the meaning of the word clutter, showing a desk with pens, pencils, erasers, scissors, toys and books covering the top. The idea of showing the definition of the word through illustrations gives the book a good edge when compared to other books I have seen that are used to teach vocabulary. Also in the illustrations are word bubbles when each character speaks in the story. This technique also gives children a view of the voice of each character. Only the narrator’s voice is shown as a sentence on a page. The colors in the story are fantastic; the reds are vibrant and rich, while the other colors are muted slightly. When the story gets into a lot of action, it is shown by the words on the page being very big and leading. This relates the illustrations to the story, adding a lot to the story line. Overall, the quality of the illustrations in the story add a notable amount of value to the book.

As stated before, the story is a more modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. Carmine starts by going to her Grandmother’s to have alphabet soup for lunch. Although it follows a more traditional version of Little Red Riding Hood, the twist is that she ends up tricked by the wolf and the wolf beats her to her grandmother’s. Once at her grandmother’s the wolf steals the bones that Grandmother uses in her alphabet soup recipe and pushes her into the closet. Carmine hears her grandmother’s screams as the wolf pushes her into the closet and Carmine comes to rescue her. This retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood story seems more age appropriate for a younger audience, seeing as though there is no violence whatsoever in this version. It seems more appropriate or children because it does not show Carmine or Grandmother punishing the wolf for what he has done, rather it focuses on telling Carmine to focus on what she is doing.

Not only is the book a Little Red Riding Hood retelling, it is also a vocabulary and alphabet book. Each page has a vocabulary word that is set in alphabetical order, and also has its definition. The words although are sometimes poorly defined and very confusing about how it relates to the story. For example, one of the words defined in the story is haiku. All that it shows about the word haiku is a small poem written by Carmine about her grandmother. It is very vague and is questionable about whether or not younger children would understand exactly what a haiku is. Another oddly placed word is x-ray. As Carmine is looking for her grandmother, it explains how no one actually has x-ray vision and how Carmine couldn’t use x-ray vision. I think that it could have been easily fit into the story but was very oddly put and a bit confusing for the story. Overall though, I think there are a variety of more difficult words for students to learn from this story. While some are kind of tricky, it helps that the illustrations give a visual for the definition of the word. Although there are a few exceptions, I think the overall story and how it is told is a good tool for younger students.
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Aug 29, 2011 Miriam rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fairy-tale, picture

Granny isn't sick -- she's just making a nice pot of alphabet soup. What could be more natural than to ring a favorite grandchild and invite her over? Our artistically-inclined, red-loving protagonist hops on her bike, taking her painting supplies and faithful dog, and off into the woods she goes. "Don't dilly-dally," her mother reminds her, but she can't resist pausing to sketch a scenic spot. And then, a little farther off, she spies some poppies crying out to by painted... While she is dawdli...more

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Mar 16, 2010 Megan Boomgarden added it

Shelves: pbgs-traditional

This is the familiar story of "Little Red Riding Hood" but with a small twist. Carmine is on her way to visit her grandmother and get some soup but stops in teh woods to paint a picture of red poppies. Like the original story, the wolf beats Carmine to Granny's and when Carmine arrives, she finds her Granny locked in the closet. (not eaten thank goodness) the moral of this fractured fairy tale is to not "dilly dally" in the woods.

This version of "Little Red Riding Hood" has been adapted so it i...more

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Oct 12, 2009 Bernice rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: traditional-literature

Carmine, a girl that loves red, is filled with imagination and demonstrates this through her beautiful portraits she paints for her grandmother. On one particular trip to her grandmother's house, against her mother's advice to ride straight through the forest without stopping, Carmine stops to paint the beautiful landscape around her. A wolf that has been heard and sighted in the area sees Carmine and her dog. We are whisked by her adventure to see what happens between Carmine and the wolf.

As I...more

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Oct 19, 2010 N_kellie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: traditional-literature

This creative take on the classic “Little Red Riding Hood” is set up in an ABC book format. But don’t be mistaken, it’s no baby book. Melissa Sweet has chosen to highlight some wonderful words as she tells the story of Carmine dilly-dallying on her way to grandma’s house. The reader is sure to expand their vocabulary with words like exquisite, indeed, lurking, reckoned, and surreal.

The story opens with Carmine (cleverly named a shade of red) painting a picture in her bedroom, thinking about how...more This creative take on the classic “Little Red Riding Hood” is set up in an ABC book format. But don’t be mistaken, it’s no baby book. Melissa Sweet has chosen to highlight some wonderful words as she tells the story of Carmine dilly-dallying on her way to grandma’s house. The reader is sure to expand their vocabulary with words like exquisite, indeed, lurking, reckoned, and surreal.

The story opens with Carmine (cleverly named a shade of red) painting a picture in her bedroom, thinking about how Granny taught her to read with alphabet soup, when her mother tells her that granny is on the phone. The next illustration shows Carmine’s side of the conversation, as granny invites her over for soup. In a speech bubble, Carmine states, “Uh-huh. I’ll be careful” and “Huh-uh. I won’t stop along the way.” Carmine’s mother even shouts to Carmine not to dilly dally, when Carmine rides away on her bicycle. As the reader would probably guess, Carmine does not go straight to Granny’s, she decides to stop and rest, but realizes that the light is exquisite that morning and she decides to paint a picture. While Carmine is painting, her dog, Rufus, notices an odd scent in the air, one he is certain is a wolf. Carmine is so involved in the painting she is making for Granny, she misses many signs that she should get on her way. Then, Rufus comes face to face with the wolf and a humorous conversation takes place. Wolf finds out they are on there way to Granny’s, and when he makes a surprise visit, Granny shouts “WOLF!” so loudly that Carmine is able to hear from the top of the hill. After entering the house, and looking at the clues in the kitchen, Carmine decides granny is missing. But wait! She hears a distant yodeling, and discovers Granny in the closet. The story ends happily when Carmine is able to give Granny the painting she painted along the way and promises never to dawdle again.

This happy ending version is a nice twist to an old favorite and even includes some other popular fairytales throughout. The three blind mice, and the three little pigs are cleverly referred to in this already funny book.

Reading the pictures is a must in this version. Some text is included in speech bubbles and parts of the story will be missed if the detailed pictures are not closely examined.

This book could be used in many ways in a 1st-5th grade classroom. The vocabulary lends itself to lessons related to context clues, and the illustrations would be a great match for a strategy lesson on making inferences. It would also be a great mentor text for an ABC book project.
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Jan 27, 2012 Paul Hankins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: can-t-miss-read-aloud, funny, january-2012, mr-hankins-says-don-t-miss, one-book-four-hands-pick, picture-book-fun-makes-me-smile, picture-book-reworking-of-familiar, picture-books-stunning-art-illust, abc-books

Before taking the Robert F. Sibert Award for Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade, Melissa Sweet created this little alphabet book, her debut picture book.

A delightful retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, Carmine is a little girl invited to her grandmother's house for some alphabet soup. On the way, she encounters a wolf. And a number of sight words that will be fun for younger readers while at the same time helping to develop a rich vocabulary.

Sprinkled into...more

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Jun 28, 2011 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: picture-book

Written and Illustrated by- Melissa Sweet
Published- Boston : Houghton Mifflin, c2005.
ISBN- 0-618-38794-3 (hardcover)
Awards- Red Clover Nominee
Genre- Fable

I read this today, after finding it when looking for fairytale stories retold. This book is an extremely charming retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. The young protagonist Carmine is an artist who likes to wander on her way to visit her grandmother, and does so today. She stops and paints pretty pictures along the way with her dog. The dog i...more

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Oct 14, 2009 Kara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: pbgs-trad

The end pages of this book is cool as they list all the different words we use for the shades of red, and are spelled out with alphabet soup letters. This sets up the story that Red is going to be a very important color in the book. It is very neat how she took a traditional story and made it an alphabet book. The watercolor pictures are really neat and allow her to play up the red and playing with the lighting. It is a book that would also help teach new words, even a French word, and even list...more

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Nov 16, 2008 Loretta Kramer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Carmine – A Little More Red is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. The main character of the story, Carmine, sets off to visit her grandmother on her bike with her pet dog and art materials. As the story continues, each page highlights a letter of the alphabet with a word, such as alphabet, beware and clutter and ends with zillion – Granny reminded Carmine that she had been told a ZILLION times not to dilly-dally in the woods.

Carmine – A Little More Red is clever and educational all in one....more

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Jan 10, 2013 Kacie Fincher rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s

One of the best parts of this book are the illustrations. The pictures are beautifully drawn and are full of vivid colors. Each page also uses a word to represent each letter of the alphabet, however some of the words chosen seemed a bit out of place. Also when reading this book I felt as though the story did not flow easily and there were a few times where I needed to re-read a page to understand the passage more clearly. A decent read.

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Sep 07, 2012 Michele rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of my new favorite alphabet books that is nestled within a classic-Little Red Riding Hood. Readers get a special treat when they enjoy this Caldecott-worthy picture book: a classic w/a twist that carries with it the genre of being an ABC book that truly has a fun, adventuresome character. My daughter brought this home from library at school & we ordered one for my (ahem, her) personal library right away.

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Jan 26, 2011 Betsy rated it 5 of 5 stars

I LOVED this very clever ABC/Little Red Riding Hood tale. It's a great read-aloud for all ages from PK-middle school. For the older kids, you could focus more on the interesting vocablulary & the subtle nuances included in the text and illustrations. Younger kids enjoy a breifer version of the story, relating to the "familiar" Little Red Riding Hood story-line. Although accurate, labeling this a ABC/Little Red Riding Hood story really doesn't do it justice. You really have to read it to appr...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Pam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: picture-books, juvenile

Carmine: A Little More read is a wonderful book. I was really excited about the vocabulary involved. I shared this book with about ten young children of various ages. We were able to set around a picnic table and get cozy. Then we were able to really discuss each and every page. Even the boys liked it. Recommend for a small group.

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Mar 29, 2011 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kid-s-books

Very cute update on the Little Red Riding Hood story. It's an alphabet book, which I didn't anticipate, with some good vocabulary i.e. exquisite, mimic and zillion, although I thought nincompoop was unnecessary. The illustrations are wonderful and make it equally fun for read as the one being read to.

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Aug 23, 2011 Nancy J. added it

The artsy craftsy ones in class will enjoy being "confirmed and edified" in this twist to Little Red Riding Hood. Small illustrations and little captions make it not the best choice for a big group reading, more of a lap/small table book.

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Aug 28, 2010 Teri rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: art-books, colors, wishlist

The story is ingenious, the vocabulary is refreshing and new, and this is a nice story to use along with Little Red Riding Hood, or to use as a "color" book if you have an art lesson introducing a painting day with the color RED.

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Jun 30, 2008 Kimberly rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is a different version of little red riding hood. It is about a grandma that teachers her granddaughter how to spell using alphabet soup, so the grandma invites her over one day for soup, and then the rest of the story is similiar to the little red riding hood.

However, on each page is a different word, as the book goes in order of the alphabet. It introduces a lot of really good vocabulary words throughout the book.

Some ideas for this book, The students could compare and contrast the t...more

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Apr 25, 2010 Alicia rated it 3 of 5 stars

An alphabet book that doesn't seem to go many places because the author is so focused on getting in a word for each letter of the alphabet. The only fun part is your "little red riding hood" named Carmine and her dog.

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Apr 16, 2013 Nicole Nunn rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was a twist on Little Red Riding Hood. I would divide the 2nd grade students into small groups and assign each group a different character to act out. This is a good character analysis activity. :)

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Dec 09, 2012 Kathy Ellen Davis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: picture-books

I will read anything that Melissa Sweet writes or illustrates because I know it will be awesome.
This one does not disappoint.
More here:http://kraftyellenwrites.com/201...

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Oct 01, 2010 Marcie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Marcie by: Literature is Back

Shelves: writing-mentor-texts

This retelling of Red riding hood is a great alphabet book for vocabulary building with intermediate students. I learned about it in Literature is Back! by Carol J. Fuhler and Maria P. Walther

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Apr 04, 2013 Lisa Shaughnessy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Really really cute book. I love the illustrations. I also love the color words and the focus on art and painting. Great twist to the Little Red Ridinghood story.

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Jul 14, 2012 Alyson (Kid Lit Frenzy) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, abc-counting-books, fairy-tales-folk-tales-fables, picture-book

A twist on the Little Red Riding Hood story that goes even further by adding in the ABC's & some great words to go with each letter of the alphabet. Pretty brilliant. And Sweet's characteristic artistic style is seen throughout the pages.

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Jan 17, 2013 Carol Ekster rated it 5 of 5 stars

Clever and fun, older picture book readers will love looking through this playfully illustrated book, recognizing the similarity to Little Red Riding Hood.

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Mar 12, 2009 Natalie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Aw, this is one of the first books that I "read" as a children's librarian. I think I namedropped it on my interview because it was so cool.

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Sep 20, 2011 Aubrey rated it 5 of 5 stars

Cute take on "Little Red Riding Hood" and fun way to learn some definitions. Has a soup recipe in the back that we enjoyed making together.

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Nov 11, 2009 Tina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorite-children-s-picture

A fun retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. The illustrations are wonderful and the A to Z vocabulary setup of the story makes it unique.

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About Melissa Sweet

There is more than one author with this name

Melissa Sweet grew up in a suburban neighborhood that had lots of kids, kick-the-can games on summer nights, and Percy's candy store right nearby.

Later she received her Associate’s Degree from Endicott Junior College in Beverly, Massachusetts, and studied art at the Kansas City Art Institute.

Sweet began began illustrating children's books in 1986 and h...more

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Books by Melissa Sweet

Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade

Fiddle-I-Fee: A Farmyard Song for the Very Young

Dirty Laundry Pile: Poems in Different Voices

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