The Wolf's Story: What Really Happened to Little Red Riding Hood

by Toby Forward, Izhar Cohen (Illustrator)

Little readers will love second-guessing this funny, fractured fairy tale that replays the story of Little Red Riding Hood from the poor maligned wolf's point of view.

No, please. Look at me.
Would I LIE to you?
It was the old woman who started it.

Everyone knows there are at least two sides to every story, and if you believe in the big-eared, sharp-toothed villain of  Little Red Riding Hood , there's a logical explanation for everything. As our antihero tells it, it all starts with the helpful wolf doing odd jobs for Grandma (are you sure you don't want to sit a little closer?). How was he to know that he spoiled Little Red would come along and ruin a good working relationship? Zooming in dramatically from strategic angles, the amusing illustrations offer visual clues that this is a story to be taken with a grain of salt — and a lot of giggling.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fairy Tales, Animals, Fiction, Fantasy, Retellings

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Toby Forward is the author of many books for children, including Shakespeare's Globe. He has also written for adults. Toby Forward lives in Liverpool, England, with his wife and two daughters.

Reviews

[Richard]

This is a revisionist version of the Red Riding Hood story, told from the point of view of the Big Bad Wolf.

He's not as bad as everyone would have you believe--at least if you believe his version. He's a vegetarian, for pity's sake (or at least he can cook like one). He's just a wolf of all trades trying to help Grandma prepare for the impending visit of the bratty kid. The old lady falls into the wardrobe whilst trying to change into a nice dress, and since this is not a C.S. Lewis production, there isn't a soft pile of Narnian snowflakes to act as a cushion. And it just goes downhill from there.

Wolves really have it rough in fairy tales. I think they ought to start a union or something.

[Alex Sarll]

The poor misunderstood wolf tells his side of the story at last. He's not frightening at all, really, so there's no reason you shouldn't sit a little closer...

[Tahmin Nessa]

This is one of many stories with an alternate ending to its traditional counterparts. Within this book it shows how the Wolf was mistaken to be the 'bad guy'. The Wolf is the narrator and starts this story off by addressing the readers, one of the key phrases throughout the story being 'No, please. Look at me. Would I lie to you?' The Wolf describes himself as a vegetarian, who is a handyman doing odd jobs for Grandma, who he often got along with. However, he often felt neglected when Little Red Riding Hood came round. Each week Little Red Riding Hood would bring toffee for Grandma which was very sticky and horrible for her false teeth, so the Wolf tried to join in and even offered to eat the toffee, however they just continued to ignore him. The day of the incident, the Wolf was in the forest collecting herbs, when he noticed Little Red Riding Hood, he tried to talk to her, but she simply ignored him. So he decided to run to Grandma's house and hide her false teeth, when he noticed Grandma trying to reach for her best dress in the wardrobe, she couldnt reach so he helped her out. But, this is where it went terribly wrong, she fell into the wardrobe, bumped her head and became unconsious. So the Wolf decided to dress up as Grandma and when Little Red Riding Hood decided to pop the toffee in his mouth, he leaped out of bed. This is where the confusion began, it seemed to the outsider that he was about to eat her, He managed to escape before the woodcutter almost chopped him in half.

This story is an ideal tool for the literacy hour, especially when looking at alternate endings within traditional tales. In a humorous Toby Forward teaches children that there are always two sides to a story and to never judge a book by its cover.

[Megan (ReadingRover)]

This is a really amusing retelling of Little Red Riding Hood told from the point of view of the wolf. It’s very clever and the wolf is pretty endearing. The story is witty, funny and engages the reader. It’s a very entertaining book to read and I think kids will like it as much as I do.

[Becky]

First sentence: No, please. Look at me. Would I lie to you? It was the old woman who started it. I did nothing wrong. Would I? We hit it off from the beginning. Not everyone likes a wolf, do they? Look at you. You're not certain. Would you like to come and sit a little closer while I tell you about the kid? I don't bite. No? Sure? Okay. Up to you.

Premise/plot: The wolf from Little Red Riding Hood is sharing HIS side of the story with you, the reader. Will you believe his story? Is it convincing? Or is there still reasonable doubt?!

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this one. I'm not sure if it's "really really liked" or "loved." But I though the narrative was strong. I loved the wolf's voice. His perspective was fun to see. We get this perspective both from the art--the illustrations--and the text itself. I loved how conversational it was. The Wolf was trying his best to charm the reader. Now, is this charming story the whole truth, the real story? Or is he trying to con readers for his own purposes? That's up to the reader to decide HOW close they want to get to the wolf as he tells his story.

Text: 4 out of 5
Illustrations: 5 out of 5
Total: 9 out of 10

[Lorrie]

Forward, Toby and Izhar Cohen. What Really Happened To Little Red Riding Hood, The Wolf's Story. Candlewick Press. Shenzhen, 2005.

What Really Happened to Little Red Riding Hood, The Wolf’s Story by Toby Forward and Izhar Cohen is a spin off to the original Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Parrault, with a twist. Since there are always two maybe three sides to a story, it’s the wolf’s turn to explain what really happened to Little Red and Grandma. Although, the book may be fantasy with the character being a wolf and all but features real scenarios. Such as the Wolf being mistaken for a bad guy because of how he appears. This being, I think this is a great example for children because it will demonstrate that not everyone that looks bad is a bad guy. The quote “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is true in this case.

[Kellie Bae]

Toby Forward’s version of “Little Red Riding Hood” reveals the wolf’s side of the story. This clever version is an amusing tale told by the wolf himself. From the first page, the wolf attempts to convince the reader that he isn’t a bad wolf, and that this whole mess is not his fault.


The story starts with the wolf blaming the whole incident on grandma, or the old lady, as he refers to her. After inviting the reader to sit closer (he claims he doesn’t bite) he goes on to say that he had been helping grandma around the house completing odd jobs. He shares that he felt ignored during the weekly visits from “the kid” and that Little Red never spoke to him. Wolf tells about the day that it happened, and how Little Red was on her way over with her basket of toffee, something the wolf complained was far to sticky for grandma’s false teeth. He explained that in a rush to warn grandma about hiding her teeth from the toffee, he accidentally knocked her out cold when he bumped her into her wardrobe. He panicked, put on grandma’s dress, and jumped in her bed, so he could pretend to be her until she got better. When Little Red arrives, the reader will recognize the standard “what big eyes you have” lines from the original, but wolf’s responses are far from “the better to see you with.” He makes up things like he got new contacts, or these old things, referring to his ears. When Little Red gets ready to pop a toffee in the wolf’s mouth, he jumps from the bed, and she thinks the wolf is going to eat her. A woodsman appears and chops a little off of wolf’s tail as he jumps out the window. The story ends with wolf thanking the reader for listening and offers to help with odds and ends around their house.

The text is not the only thing that will keep you reading, the illustrations are also amazing. The drawings are from wolf’s viewpoint, and show his sadness when Little Red visits, the short cut he takes to beat Little Red to grandma’s house, and best of all, what happens when Little Red gets to the house and wolf is in grandma’s bed. First, the reader can see the reflection of Little Red in the wolf’s huge eyes, and the view looking out of wolf’s mouth at the girl before she is about to pop the toffee. The illustrations make the wolf look charming, and Little Red appears scary or cold.

This book is a great read aloud for primary or intermediate students, but it also lends itself to other classroom use. This would be a great mentor text to show voice, because the wolf’s voice adds so much to the story. It would also be appropriate for making inferences, and characterizing wolf. The story reminds the reader that there are two sides to every story, and forces the reader to question stereotypes, and who to believe.

[Ali]

Have you ever questioned what really happened in the story of Little Red Riding Hood? The Wolf’s Story by Toby Forward and Izhar Cohen is a story of Little Red Riding Hood from the perspective of the Wolf. In this story, the Wolf is able to share his side of the story explaining all of the events that happened, but in a way that depicts himself as a good, helpful wolf. This entertaining perspective offers a fun perspective on a traditional story.

The beautiful illustrations add an important quality to the telling of the story. At first, the illustrations allow the reader to be an onlooker of the story, but as it continues takes on the perspectives of the characters. The text and illustrations work together to share this unique point of view. This story would be best suited for children ages 4-10. Additionally, the story would be best for children who are familiar with the story of Little Red Riding hood in order to truly understand the humor and perspective of the wolf. Toby Forward is also known for his children’s book Shakesphere’s Globe.

[L- Lisa]

This version of the classic tale is told from the Wolf’s perspective. That Wolf works as a handy “animal”, hired by Grandma. Through his first person perspective he describes the little red caped girl who visits Grandma each week, bringing toffee as the treat. Thinking only of saving Grandma’s teeth from the toffee, he goes out to find “the kid” in the red cape. The plan runs amuck with Grandma falling into a wardrobe, bumping her head. That Wolf falls right into the traditional story until, he opens his mouth to gobble the kid in the red cape and she attempts to pop a toffee in his mouth. This sends the Wolf right out of the bed and through a window with the woodsman arriving, complete with the ax. The Wolf makes it out the window, with a blooded tail. He heads off to town, assuring the reader that he is available for any odd jobs, unemployed and a victim of unfortunate circumstances.
The soft pencil and watercolor illustrations support the storyline by assuring the readers they may not want to trust the Wolf’s version of the story. His beady yellow eyes even reflect the image of the little girl, arriving at his bedside to greet “grandma” with toffees.
There is always two sides to each story! This one is worth considering as preschoolers to grade 2 can compare the Wolf’s perspective to the original story during read aloud.
(2005)

[Laurie]

This book The Wolf's Story of What Really Happened to Little Red Riding Hood was kind of funny and different from other stories I have read. It about how a wolf tells his story by saying how he's innocent and just does odd jobs around the house for grandma. The wolf goes to grandma house to warn her about the toffee that little red riding hood was about to bring her which gets stuck to her teeth. As grandma reaches for her dress in the closet she falls and hits head and falls unconscious. So as Little Red Riding Hood arrives. The wolf jumps in the bed with grandma clothes on. Then the wolf says she had been trying to get the little girl to speak to him for a long time until now.
Ass the little girl screams the wolf jumps out the bed as if he's out to eat her. She screams and a woodsman near by hears and burst through the door with a big ax. The wolf screams for grandma to save him but she wouldn't wake up. The woodsman chased him cut off part of the wolf tale. The wolf continue running and saying if anyone need any odd jobs around just call him. The wolf is still brave enough to continue beginning the friendly wolf he says he is.

[Ch13_megan Carlisle]

"The Wolf's Story" provides an alternate telling of the well known story.
It begins:
"No, please. Look at me. Would I LIE to you? It was the old woman who started it. I did nothing wrong. Would I?"

From that point on the wolf attempts to convince the audience of his version of events and innocence in the matter. Little Red Riding Hood is cast as a snobby, sugar loving granddaughter and he as a compassionate vegetarian handy man. Whose version of the story is accurate? That is left to the reader to decide.

Toby Forward has written an engaging and well paced story. He uses italicization to place added emphasis on parts of the Wolf's story. The illustrations are colored pencil sketches which at times appear bland in comparison to the story. Children in grades K-2 will enjoy this take on the familiar tale.

[Doreen]

This story is just so funny. Told from the wolf's perspective, I laughed for the entire time it took to read. I can't say that the wolf convinces me of his innocence, but he does a good job trying!

[Jhana]

I came across this book at my school’s library while searching for retellings of "Red Riding Hood." I gravitated to this title because, unlike the other retellings I read, this one featured the Wolf on the cover rather than Red Riding Hood. Additionally, it reminded me of "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs" by Jon Scieszka, a retelling of the classic tale of the Three Little Pigs told from the Wolf’s perspective. That book is easily one of my favorite picture books of all time, thanks to its humorous, childlike style that challenges one’s initial perception of the wolf as the “bad guy” in the story. The Wolf’s Story presents similar humor and wittiness as it tells the story of what happened to Red Riding Hood from the Wolf’s point of view.

The story begins with the Wolf describing his backstory, mentioning that he had worked for Grandma often before the big incident. During the times Red Riding Hood came to visit Grandma, she would bring her toffee and other treats, leaving the Wolf feeling ignored. As he recounts what really happened that day, he explains that he saw Red Riding Hood coming and tried to warn Grandma, but she accidentally bumped her head and fainted. Panicked, the Wolf decides to dress up like Grandma so Red Riding Hood won’t get suspicious.

Like the traditional tale, Red Riding Hood notices the drastic features of the Wolf that are unlike her Grandmothers. “What BIG eyes you have, what BIG ears you have,” which are familiar phrases from the original story. When Red Riding Hood notices the teeth, she realizes this is not her Grandmother and assumes that the Wolf has eaten her grandmother. A woodman comes in to rescue her, attempting to kill the wolf, but only chops off his tail. The Wolf runs away into town and offers the reader his services for odd jobs if needed.

I appreciated that this version provided a different perspective that presents new details and character motives without drifting too far off from the original tale. The illustrations are vivid, capturing the medieval time period and clearly highlighting the actions and feelings of each character. Read aloud to elementary-aged students (K-3), I envision this book being used in conjunction with another version told from Red Riding Hood’s perspective, to compare/contrast the characters, setting, plot, and moral of the two different perspectives.

[Terri (BooklyMatters)]

An absolutely delightful picture-book re-telling of the fairy tale, “Little Red Riding Hood”, from the perspective of the infamous Wolf, the much-maligned anti-hero who it may turn out, is not such a bad guy, after all.

This fractured fairy tale is funny, charming, gorgeously illustrated, and is sure to captivate even the youngest reader.

With just a hint of scariness, and a whole lot of attitude, this Wolf is quite the character.

A cook, maid, odd-jobs man (wolf) for Grandma, our Wolf-storyteller is quick to acknowledge that others, for some reason, find his presence intimidating. Including that annoying little girl in the red cape, who he cannot help but feel is favored, (perhaps unfairly?) by her doting grandmother.

As he goes about his daily tasks, trying to care for Grandma in the expected-caretaker-type ways, it comes to pass that one day, things go terribly wrong.

(For after all, he is a wolf, trying to get by in a human world, and from that perspective, our entire story now pivots.)

Without giving the plot away (no spoilers here), this tale will charm, entertain, mesmerize and gently enlighten any child - providing a glimpse into “another”, who may look alien or unfriendly from the outside - but may, perhaps just be different. (Even really different, or scary).

For after all, there’s always another side to any story.

“Would I lie to you?”

A great big thank you to #Edelweiss, the author, and the publisher for an ARC of this enchanting book. All thoughts presented are my own.

[Ashlie]

This book shares the story of Little Red Riding Hood, but through the perspective of the Wolf. In the original story, we only get to see what Little Red saw, so in this story Wolf tries to clear his name. He explains how everything is a misunderstanding and that he in fact did not eat grandma, but he took her place when she hit her head so that Little Red would not be upset when she arrived at grandma’s house. Wolf makes a convincing story, but also asks multiple times “Would I lie to you?” making the reader question if he has been telling the truth for the entire story.

This is a fun story looking at perspective and how looking through different perspectives can give the reader or viewer completely different story and set of events. I think that the Wolf did a pretty good job at convincing the readers that he was not the bad guy of the story while still holding the suspense with the like “Would I lie to you?”

Other books I could connect with this one would be the original Little Red Riding Hood. Another book would be The most Magnificent thing by Ashley Spires. This book also focuses on perspective.

A writing assignment that could be connected to this story would be to compare and contrast the details in this story with those that are found in the original story. Another writing assignment could be for students to pick their favorite stories or a personal experience that they had and write what that experience might have looked like from someone else in the story.

[Asvina]

'Would I lie to you?'

'The Wolf's Story: What Really Happened to Little Red Riding Hood' is an amusing retelling of the classic tale. But this time, it's told through the Wolf's perspective. The Wolf is not the notorious grandma-eating predator; instead, he is a vegetarian that likes to help Grandma with errands and odd jobs. In fact, he feels a little neglected when her bratty granddaughter, Little Red Riding Hood, comes to visit. When he tries to protect Grandma, the situation turns awry and the Wolf leaves in old lady clothes and a fractured reputation! He's adamant to tell his side of the story - if you'll let him.

This is an incredibly hilarious picture book with lots of twists and turns, and offers an interesting alternative perspective to a classic children's tale. It provides the potential for debates about the Wolf's true intentions and whether we will ever know if he's telling the truth. Furthermore, the detailed illustrations accompany the Wolf's murky intentions - his facial expressions often juxtapose his protests of being innocent. Analysis of the illustrations alongside the written text will definitely lead to some conflicting views and could lead to some exciting writing opportunities, especially in-role as the Wolf!

[AMY]

The wolf was doing odd jobs for grandma and was a vegetarian. Red brought toffee that was bad for Grandma's teeth. She made Red a cape. Red didn't like wolf and he felt left out. Grandma hit her head while reading for a dress in her wardrobe. The wold closed the wardrobe and put on grandma's dress to cover up what was going on. He jumped in bed because his legs looked bad. Red was acting scared. Wolf's excuse for big eye was new contacts. Wolf scares Red unintentionally and hunter comes in with an axe. The wolf jumps out the window. He ran all the way to town and is looking for odd jobs. (His tail got wacked by the hunter.) Great illustrations throughout. The wolf speaks casually and directly to the reader. This would create some great discussion. Highly recommended for Grades K-2.

[Erica Massarelli]

The Wolf's Story by Toby Forward is the perfect book to use when comparing stories or teaching point of view.

In this clever story, we hear the story of Little Red Riding Hood from the wolf's point of view. Throughout the book, he uses many ways to convince the reader that he really is a nice guy and not "bad" at all. He tells the story from his side, sharing that he and Red's grandma were very close and how he wasn't particularly fond of Little Red. His telling of the classic tale leaves you wondering whose side is correct.

Aside from the text, the pictures in this story are great! I loved how the illustrator chose to show the images from the wolf's point of view as well. They really helped to tie the story together.

[Kristen Young]

They say there are always two sides to every story. Reflecting back to Little Red-Riding Hood story about how the wolf ate her grandmother. Wouldn't you like to know the wolf side of the story before we believe her side of the story? Author Toby Forward was able to sit and talk with the Wolf and get his side of the story of the events that happen between Little Red Riding-Hood, Grandma and the Wolf. The two tell two different versions of what happen that day at Grandma's house. After reading "The Wolf's Story: What really happened to little red riding hood" let figure out who was telling the truth and who was telling the lie.


-Kristen Young

[Kirsten - Children's Library Lady]

Once upon a time, Little Red Riding Hood visited her Grandma. But she didn't know that the Wolf was also on his way there. The Wolf had no bad intentions – he only wanted to help Grandma. But by the time he arrived, a series of misunderstandings and accidents had caused Little Red Riding Hood to think the Wolf was up to no good. This is the Wolf's side of the story and shows how different perspectives can lead to different conclusions.

[Tracy]

The story of "Little Red Riding Hood" told from the perspective of the Wolf who slyly tells the story that the readers can tell from the illustration of the wolf's sly smile that he is embellishing the story.

[Moyra Duckmanton]

I love reading this version of the red riding hood tale to my classes. This version is told from the wolf’s perspective. Is the wolf believable? Can a wolf be trusted? Great for starting debates in the class.

[Hanna]

((3.5))

[Elicia Cisneros]

Great children’s story book with a good twist on the classic Little Red Riding hood!

[Shane]

I love twists on traditional fairy tales, books told from different perspectives etc. This one was alright, but was a bit of a one trick pony.

[Set]

There are always two sides to one story and this is the innocent wolf's side of the story. Now that it's all been cleared up, we should let bygones be bygones, trust the wolf and invite him in.

[Susan Bryson]

Solid perspective book for Red Riding Hood.

[Madison LibraryBookFamily]

The wolf’s side of Little Red Riding Hood.

[Greta]

Lol this was like the best picture book I've ever read.

[Joanna]

Amazing!