Review – Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fairy Tale Retellings
Length: 128 pages
Publisher: Two Lions
Release Date: January 21, 2014
ISBN-13: 978-1477816127
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Bought
Rating: 3/5 stars
I picked up this book as part of the Fairy Tales Retold Challenge I participated in this year. It was okay. This is a series of eight stories that are rewrites of Little Red Riding Hood. The stories are fairly short and simple. A couple of them were very creative and I enjoyed them. I actually enjoyed the humorous foreword more than the majority of the book.
The writing style is very simple and straightforward; there isn’t a lot of description or poetry here. The stories aren’t really edgy or anything. You see a list of the stories included below along with a quick synopsis. My favorites were Little Red Riding Hood’s Family, Deems the Wood Gatherer, and Little Red Riding Hood’s Little Red Riding Hood
Overall this was an okay book. It’s a quick read but definitely not the best collection of fairy tale retellings out there. I would only recommend if you are a diehard fan of Red Riding Hood retellings, because there are a couple interesting ones here.
The Red Cloak
The woodcutter finds out that the wolf isn’t the dangerous one in this story.
The Red Riding Hood Doll
A lonely seamstress makes herself a daughter out of a red cloak only to find that daughters are more trouble than they are worth.
Little Red Riding Hood’s Family
A very fun story about immature parents, a Red Riding Hood with magical gifts, and a granny who is the wolf.
Granny and the Wolf
Granny befriends a wolf and they both hide from the over amorous woodcutter.
Deems the Wood Gatherer
This wood gatherer goes in and out of fairy tales leaving a path of unintentional destruction. This was a very cute story and funny.
Why Willy and His Brother Won’t Ever Amount to Anything
A couple of no good color blind brothers think everything is a wolf. This was probably my least favorite story of the collection.
The Little Red Headache
A wolf determined to return Red’s basket gets a headache.
Little Red Riding Hood’s Little Red Riding Hood
Red gets a very smart cloak.
