Author: Beni Montresor
Genre: Animals / Fairy Tale / Classic / Horror /
Strangers
Year Published: 1991
Year Read: 2014
Publisher: Double Day
Source: Library
Content Rating: Ages 6+ (Some Suggestive Moments and Some Scary Moments)
Buy or Add on: Amazon // Goodreads
I have been reading “Little
Red Riding Hood” ever since I was a child and the version that was always
read to me was the “sweet, politically
correct, sanitized version where everybody lives happily ever after!”
BUT….
The version I just recently picked up, which is the original
text written by Charles Perrault and
features illustrations by Beni Montresor,
IS NOT the sweet, politically correct and sanitized version that I had
grown up with for many years now! I will
explain more about this book as I give my thoughts on this particular version
of the classic fairy tale, because it is definitely one heck of a doozy!
Basically, the story starts off with a young girl who was
known as Little Red Riding Hood due to her always wearing a red cape that was
made for her by her grandmother. One
day, Little Red Riding Hood’s mother asked Little Red Riding Hood to go to her
grandmother’s house and give her a cake and a pot of butter to make her well
again. Along the way, Little Red Riding
Hood meets up with a gentleman wolf who asks Little Red Riding Hood where she
was going and Little Red Riding Hood tells the wolf that she is going to visit
her grandmother who is sick in bed.
While Little Red Riding Hood picks up flowers for her grandmother in the
woods, the Wolf rushes to the grandmother’s house and eats her up when he comes
inside the house. Then the wolf dresses
himself up in the grandmother’s nighttime clothes and lies in bed until Little
Red Riding Hood arrives. When Little Red
Riding Hood finally arrives at her grandmother’s house, she opens the door and…
What will happen to Little Red Riding Hood?
Read this book to find out!
Alright, so I basically explained about the story of “Little Red Riding Hood” and since this
was a story that was retold over and over again by different generations; I
think everyone knows this story already.
The only thing different about this version of the classic fairy tale is
how the story ends, but I will save that for the cons section of my
review! What I really enjoyed about this
version of “Little Red Riding Hood”
is that we actually get a darker and grimmer version of the classic tale since
I had grown up with the “clean” version for so long and it was nice to see a
different take on this tale, even though this is technically the original
version of the fairy tale. I also really
enjoyed Beni Montresor’s
illustrations as they are both gorgeous and creepy to look at, especially
during the scenes with the wolf preying on Little Red Riding Hood as it makes
him look truly scary throughout the book.
The reason why I took off half a star from my rating is
because I felt that the ending was a little too abrupt for my tastes, even
though this version is darker than the more child friendly version of this
tale.
*****SPOILER
ALERT!!!!*****
In other words, this version ends with Little Red Riding
Hood being eaten by the wolf and we do not see the scene where the huntsman
rescues Little Red Riding Hood even though it is implied at the end that the
huntsman does show up eventually.
*****SPOILER
ENDED!!!!*****
Even though I like the fact that this ending is a lot darker
than what we are used to, I would have loved to see some kind of closure with
the characters or at least have the book end on a more completed note.
Overall, “Little Red
Riding Hood” is a great book to read if you want to check out Charles Perrault’s original story and
if you want to read a grimmer version of the classic fairy tale! I would recommend this book to children ages
six and up since the ending might scare younger children.
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