Common Sense Media Review
By Regan McMahon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Brilliant fairy tale twist has mega-fun with words.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 5+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
In writing class at pencil school, Little Red decides to write a story about bravery, \"because red is the color of courage.\" Her teacher, Ms. 2, gives her a basket of 15 red nouns to use in case she runs into trouble and warns her to \"stick to your basic story path so you don't get lost.\" As she goes on her journey, Red encounters all sorts of words -- adjectives in the descriptive forest, conjunctions in a supply closet filled with \"glue words\" such as \"and,\" \"so,\" and \"but,\" adverbs that arrive \"suddenly,\" and so on. In a clever play on the familiar \"Little Red Riding Hood\" climax, Little Red goes to see Principal Granny and finds at her desk an imposter: the Wolf 3000, a life-threatening electric pencil sharpener that has ground the real Principal Granny down to the nub. Can Little Red find a word that will save her and her story?
Is It Any Good?
This is a fun twist on the familiar fairy tale and a word lover's delight, with buckets of vocabulary words and fun, silly characters scampering across Melissa Sweet's antic, engaging illustrations. The spot-on writing advice is good enough to inspire school lesson plans or creative writing projects at home. Yet the lighthearted tale also works as a fun adventure for little ones.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about fairy tale twists. How is this story like "Little Red Riding Hood"? What's different, and what's the same?
What's fun about books that play with words? Have you read any others?
Write a story following the "story path" rules in this book, and use some of the action verbs Little Red found in the school gym.
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Melissa Sweet
- Genre : Picture Book
- Topics : Numbers and Letters
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Chronicle Books
- Publication date : September 24, 2013
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 5 - 8
- Number of pages : 36
- Available on : Nook, Hardback, Kindle
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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