What Big ...... You Have!! (Little Red Riding Hood - Nick Sharratt)

Member Name: tb4ms

Product:	Little Red Riding Hood - Nick Sharratt
Date:	31/12/08 (164 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A modern re-telling of the traditional tale

Disadvantages: Some flaps are a little delicate for small, eager hands!

- The book -

This is another one of Nick Sharratt's re-telling of a traditional story / tale.

The story is cleverly told in rhyme, the first page of which I have shown below to give you an idea of the content:

'Little Red Riding Hood's Mum said,
"Your gran's been on the phone.
She's feeling rather poorly
And she's ha a little moan.

So would you be a sweetheart,
Pop over right right away.
And take this shopping with you,
It would really make her day."

As the traditional tale goes, Little Red Riding Hood sets off with the shopping to Grandma's house, encounters the wolf who hatched an evil plan to eat Red Riding Hood and so on and so forth.
The story line is the virtually the same as the traditional tale, although the wolf only hides Grandma in the wardrobe rather than eating her, the woodcutter is replaced by Red Riding Hood's Dad and the wolf isn't killed instead he escapes.

Some elements of the original tale are still incorporated in to Nick Sharratt's text, e.g.

'When Red Riding Hood came in
She couldn't help but stare.
"Goodness Gran, you do look strange.
You've grown a lot of hair.

And your eyes, they look so big,
They've changed from blue to black."
"All the better to see you with"
The cunning wolf growled back.

- Style, Format and Illustrations -

The book has quite a lot of text. Despite this, young children are still able to re-tell the story due to the rhyming text and also the fact that many may have already heard the traditional tale.

The illustrations are very bright and colourful, far more appealing to the younger children of today in comparison to the old Ladybird book that I was introduced to way back in the early 70s!

Apart from the rhyming text which is great, another major appealing aspect of this book are the lift-the-flap opportunities, encouraging active participation and intrigue as to what is under each flap. Every page has one flap but some have two.

This book will appeal to children from about 2 years upwards and even younger, depending on their ability and levels of concentration. Just watch out for the flaps not being ripped in certain places as they flip them open with not so careful little hands!

- About the author -

Those of you who are used to children's picture books will no doubt recognise Nick Sharratt's name as being the illustrator of many picture books, working alongside a range of authors.
However he does sometimes go out there on his own, writing and illustrating his own books:
~ Caveman Dave
~ Dinosaur's Day Out
~ Monday Run-Day
~ Mr Pod and Mr Piccalilli
~ Mrs Pirate
~ Pirate Pete
~ Smart Aunties
~ Faster, Faster. Nice and Slow!

Nick Sharratt studied graphic design and began drawing humorous illustrations for magazines and packaging for cake boxes and sweet packets before venturing in to the world of picture books.

- Other books in this series -

Cinderella
The Three Little Pigs
Jack and the Beanstalk
The Three Billy Goats Gruff

- Price -

Paperback, ISBN: 0-333-96217-6 costs £4.99 but amazon are selling used and new copies from just £1.26.

- Educational Values -

~ develops fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination through lifting the flaps.
~ encourages children to join in with the text and fosters an enjoyment of books.
~ this can be used with slightly older children, 5+ when looking at and comparing traditional tales with modern retellings.
I used this book with Year 2 children in our study of traditional tales, looking at different settings, characters and endings.

- My Verdict -

This is a good fun book, encourages active participation and the plus point is that the wolf isn't too scary for any children who are of a nervous disposition .......Well worth a trip to the library.


(This review is also posted on ciao)

Summary: A successful re-telling of the traditional tale.