Werewolf? There Wolf!

PreS-Gr 1–In this rhyming fractured fairy-tale retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood,” a brown-skinned girl in an oversize red hoodie and huge sneakers heads into the woods, focused on her cell phone and oblivious to the wolves looming from behind the trees. When a wolf does jump out, Red has a bright idea (à la the mouse in Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo): She warns the wolf that he’s not the most dangerous creature in the woods. The wolf is skeptical: “Though werewolves are scary, they are very rare. So where’s the werewolf that I should beware?” His suggestions—and the matching illustrations of the “barely there wolf,” the “gothic glare wolf,” and the “merry care wolf”—grow increasingly, fantastically hilarious. In a twist, it’s Red herself who’s the dangerous one, and Grandma shows up with dog treats for the wolf to snack on instead of lost children. Although the red-eyed wolf is frightening, Red has the situation under control (much like the heroine of Bethan Woollvin’s Little Red), and color-drenched illustrations provide plenty of humor.