Red Riding Hood

by Christopher Coady

In a distinctively dark and menacing version of Perrault's classic tale, the unfortunate little girl is confronted by a clever and hungry wolf. All ages.

32 pages, Hardcover

Published May 7, 1992

Reviews

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a big fan of this fairy tale, but the unique painted illustrations were intriguing. At least there is no heroic woodsman in this variation that somehow extracts still-living Red and Grandma from the wolf's belly. Rather, in this book, the wolf eats them both and that's that.

A section at this book's conclusion describes the story as a cautionary tale meant to warn children from being too trusting of the cunning stranger. Unfortunately, in practice, RED RIDING HOOD and stories like it seem to serve mainly the purpose of demonizing a wild animal who almost always cautiously avoids humans, and for good reason.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Retold children’s story with great colorful pages illustrated.

[Caley Yoder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was about a girl who went to take cakes to her sick grandmother. On her way to bringing the cakes, she was soon encountered by a coyote. The coyote tricked her into thinking he was a good person and figured out where she was headed. Racing Red Riding Hood to her grandmas house, the coyote knocked on the door intimidating Reds voice. As the grandma let him in, it was to her surprise that it was not Red. When Red finally approached the house, she knocked on the door and the coyote answered her intimidating her grandmas voice. As Red entered the house, it was to her surprise that her grandmother was not there.
Overall this book was a great read. This book was pretty violent and would not recommend to kids under the age of eight to read it. The pictures were shown as very dark leaving a negative and sad atmosphere. The text in this book left the reader questioning as to what will happen next. This book did a great job as being a folktale and giving a meaning at the end of the story to not talk to strangers even if they seem nice. To conclude, this book was very good and would recommend for older readers because of the violence in it.

[Dannica Lyon]

In this rendition of Little Red Riding Hood, a much darker storyline is portrayed. The use of dark colors in the illustrations sets the mood from the start. The word choice and abrupt ending shows the intensity the author wants to portray. This folktale has many different versions but this is by far the darkest and most intense version I have read. Parts of the story are similar to the versions I have heard such as her seeing the wolf in the woods as she is delivering her sick grandmother cake as well as the lines regarding grandmas big eyes and teeth. I would recommend this book to older children because I feel like if you read this to a younger crowd, they would be a little bit disturbed by the violence that is shown.

[Shannon Hughes · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Little Red Riding Hood's Grandmother falls ill, her mother instructs Red Riding Hood to bring her some cakes. Little Red Riding Hood decides to take the shortcut through the woods were she then runs into a charming and seemingly kind wolf. She tells him where she is going and then continues on her path to her Grandmother's cabin. However, what she finds when she arrives is not exactly what she expected.

This folktale is used in order to teach children not to talk to strangers. It's a lesson that we all learn growing up and this book, especially with the ending written by Coady really puts in to perspective the severity of the consequences ignoring this lesson can have.

[Jamala Alkeshi]

This was a very somber version of red riding hood, in which the grandmother and red riding hood end up dying. I don't remember every reading a version quite like this, from the cover of the book you can tell that it is not going to be a flowery, rainbows and sunshine kind of book but one of a more serious tone. This is set with the colors used and the way the illustrations are produced, there are alot of dark blue and red tones. Also for the illustrations, large brush strokes can be seen, this makes the images slightly blurry but also much more erie as well. Even though this book is kind of dark for my liking I appreciate the skill in the illustrations and story telling, it is very unique and the illustrations are beautiful. I also appreciate how the text is incorporated into the illustrations. I would use this book in my classrooms with discretion.

[Megan Compton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red Riding Hood
By Christopher Coady

This book is the darker of the three books I read for the folktale variant chart assignment. The ending is mostly up to the reader. I think, according to the dark and gloomy illustrations, that the wolf ate Red Riding Hood and her grandma. The illustrations in this book are very dark and bleak. The illustrator uses a lot of light and shadows to make this tale somewhat frightening. Lots of dark blues and reds. The problem in the book is not solved, either. I would not recommend to put this book in my classroom library.

[Shai · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little dark, but well illustrated.

[Annika Skigen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Red Riding Hood is about a little girl who is traveling through the woods to see her sick grandmother. While on the way, she meets a wolf. The wolf seems nice at first and they begin talking. She tells him where she is going and then off they both go on their own ways. The wolf has a plan. He rushes to grandmothers house in the woods, knocks on the door and pretends to be Red Riding Hood. The grandmother falls for in and lets the wolf in. The wolf then eats the grandmother in one bite, and gets into her bed. The wolf then patiently waits for Red Hiding Hood to get to grandmothers house.

Christopher Coady illustrated this traditional picture with full page dark illustrates. The dark illustrations help show the fear and mystery behind the book and give a deeper meaning to the story. The illustrations and text have a symmetrical interaction throughout most of the story. There are some parts where the illustrations serve to evoke more emotions from the reader.