October 31, 2005
Both quirky and silly, this table-turning version of Little Red Riding Hood from a sibling team (Cinderella: An Art Deco Love Story
) features a boy hero who saves his grandmother from the wicked wolf with a fizzy bottle of ginger ale. The story begins traditionally: "In a time not too long ago and in a land much like our own, there lived a young boy." But David Roberts makes an immediate departure with campy artwork brimming with visual humor and early Americana. The text reads, "His name was Thomas, but—for some reason—everyone called him Little Red," opposite an illustration of a saucer-eyed child in a red room filled with red toys. While a woman in his parents' inn tells Thomas tales of "dangerous encounters with dashing highwaymen," a masked man sits half-hidden behind a newspaper. (The top story is about Ben Franklin's proposal to make the turkey America's national bird.) Throughout, the edgy illustrations complement the wry, understated text. When the inept wolf swallows the grandmother in her hoop skirt, he looks more like a red jacketed vacuum cleaner than the scary garden-variety villain. In the All-the-better-to-eat-you scene, the wolf, sporting Grandma's wig and lorgnette, is eventually outfoxed by quick-witted Little Red. The boy's ginger ale makes the creature burp up his grandmother as if she were a cannon ball. This riff on the original has pizzazz (and fizz). Ages 4-9.