Red – The True Story of Red Riding Hood by Liesl Shurtliff weaves a tale that is nothing like your granny’s bedtime story. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a wolf, the woods, and a trip to grandmother’s house, but there is also magic, friends, and a quest.
In The True Story of Red Riding Hood, we follow Red, a strong and independent young girl, on a mission to save her grandmother from a sickness. While Granny doesn’t say that she’s dying, Red starts to fear that the sickness is the beginning of the end of her grandmother’s life.
Struggling with the fear of losing her, Red sets out to collect ingredients to make one of her grandmother’s cure-all potions. One thing leads to another and we meet a few interesting friends. Wolf is a lonely wolf who’s pack has been hunted down and killed. Goldie, a little girl who sounds strangely like Goldie Locks, is on a mission of her own.
The author, Liesl Shurtliff, takes care to weave in a few other characters like Snow White, Rump (who we can safely assume is Rumpelstiltskin), and a beast that lives in a castle with a red rose garden (sound familiar?). Not all the mentions are particularly nice ones. The dwarf Red meets doesn’t seem to have a high opinion of Snow White and it makes me wonder about the other side of the classic tale.
The central lesson that all the characters have in common is learning to face their fears. Fear of death is the most prevalent, but others are intertwined with it.
The publisher has this book rated for ages 8 – 12, but I have to say if an adult in your life is looking for a fun read, then this is one for them. I honestly couldn’t put it down after the first chapter.
Red – The Real Story of Red Riding Hood is available now at your local bookstore.
Disclaimer: GeekMom was given a review sample for the purpose of this review.
