Very Little Red Riding Hood

by Teresa Heapy, Sue Heap (Illustrator)

Overview

This is the story of the Very Little Red Riding Hood.      Very Little Red Riding Hood is little.      Very little.      She's off to her Grandmama's for a sleepover, and she won't let anything stand in her way.      Not even a Wolf.      Join Very Little Red Riding Hood on a very BIG adventure in the first book of this adorable new picture book series.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544465640
Publisher:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date:	09/02/2014
Series:	Anglistik & Englischunterricht
Sold by:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Teresa Heapy swapped the office desk for the kitchen table, going from publishing books for Oxford University Press to writing books. In her spare time, she does comedy improvisation and plays the ukulele. She lives in Oxford, England, with her husband and three children.
Sue Heap has written and illustrated many books for children, including the New York Times best-seller How to Be a Baby. Sue lives in Oxfordshire, England.  

Editorial Reviews

★ 06/02/2014
Very Little Red Riding Hood, the toddler who stars in British author Heapy’s retelling (first in a planned series), is all ready to go to Grandmama’s for a sleepover, and she’s full of love. When she meets the wolf, she leaps on him: “A Foxie!” she says in delight. “No touch my cakes!” she orders. When Grandmama is nonplussed by the wolf in her doorway, Very Little Riding Hood explains, “Oh, Gramma, it’s only Foxie.” The three play hide-and-seek, dance, and draw until there’s a toddler meltdown: “I don’t know where is my Mummy,” she weeps. “Oh, what big, wet eyes you have,” starts the Wolf. “Oh, what a big, snotty nose you have.” Will the Wolf’s instinctive cruelty finally surface? Not to worry. Heap’s childlike watercolor-and-ink spreads subtly signal contemporary life with props like Very Little Riding Hood’s wheeled carry-all and Gramma’s casual sweater and slacks. Heapy’s toddler speech has the ring of authenticity, and it’s not a parody, either. Rather, Heapy swaps a delightful new character into an old story and follows her wherever she leads. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

* "Heapy swaps a delightful new character into an old story and follows her wherever she leads."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review


"A fun, fractured adventure."
—School Library Journal


"The sprightly, scribbly watercolor illustrations particularize the characters...Varied type size give the reader-aloud lots of performance hints."
—Horn Book Magazine

"Heapy captures exactly the sort of afternoon very little storytime listeners long for...audiences will love seeing how a mere toddler can make even a mighty wolf feel sheepish."
—Bulletin

 

From the Publisher

07/01/2014
PreS-Gr 2—Immediately, readers know that Very Little Red Riding Hood has very definite ideas about things. Announcing to her mother that she is headed to Grandmama's for a sleepover and must take her cakes, the child heads off on her journey. Predictably, she runs into a Wolf (she mistakenly calls him "a Foxie") and gives him a big hug. After being denied one of the cakes, he tries tagging along, only to be told, "'No!… Go 'way!'" "'No touch my cakes!'" However, Wolf doesn't give up, and Very Little relents. Grandmama is understandably startled to see a bouquet-bearing Wolf on her doorstep and refuses him entry. Her granddaughter convinces her to let him in, and the Wolf joins them for a tea party, game playing, and even a bit of dancing. When Very Little Red's mood abruptly changes and she misses her mother, it is her new friend who is able to stop her tears. The full-color, watercolor-and-ink illustrations pop off white backgrounds with vitality. The Wolf's expressions are especially charming and funny. Text is placed above, below, and around, and the font size varies throughout, giving appropriate emphasis when needed. A fun, fractured adventure.—Sara-Jo Lupo Sites, George F. Johnson Memorial Library, Endicott, NY

School Library Journal

2014-06-10
A sweeter-than-sweet retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood.”In this twist on the classic tale, Little Red Riding Hood is exactly that—little...very little. In fact, she is so young that readers may wonder why her mother would send a child whose grammar and vocabulary reflect that of a 3-year-old to venture out on her own to visit her Grandmama. So, off goes Very Little Red Riding Hood cloaked in a cat-ear hooded jacket. On the edge of a very safe-looking, light-colored, sparse wood, she meets a Wolf. The Wolf, bedecked in a furry coat and scarf, is quickly intimidated by the tot’s obstinate, toddlerlike demands. When they arrive at Grandmama’s—which is hard to distinguish from the woods since both have a white-space background—Grandmama shuts the door on the Wolf, but Very Little Red Riding Hood soon convinces her to let the Wolf in. Wolf is very well-behaved—the real problem is Very Little Red Riding Hood, who has a meltdown. The Wolf coaxes her out of it using the traditional dialogue Little Red Riding Hood usually uses (“Oh, what big, wet eyes you have,” etc.).While Very Little Red Riding Hood’s agency is laudable, the incredibly feel-good plot (no consequences for foolish actions here!) and the bratty, baby-talking Red Riding Hood herself make this book one to pass by. (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews