A review by missprint_
Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde
4.0
Some fairy tales are just problematic. Rumpelstiltskin's motivations are fuzzy at best. Does Rapunzel's mother really need lettuce that badly?
Then you have Little Red Riding Hood. How oblivious can one child be? Why was she left unsupervised in the woods? Why a red hood at all?
Many questions. Not so many answers.
Plenty of opportunities for new retellings in Cloaked in Red (2010) by Vivian Vande Velde.
This collection runs in the same vein as Vande Velde's earlier collection The Rumpelstiltskin Problem. An author's note starts the volume in which Vande Velde outlines the numerous problems with the original Little Red Riding Hood.
In the eight stories in this collection Vande Velde offers a different slant on the story. "Little Red Riding Hood's Family" offers a very clever, whimsical explanation of why Little Red would not be concerned to find her grandmother looking like a wolf. "Granny and the Wolf" delves deeper into the relationship between Granny and the woodcutter (not to mention the wolf). "Deems the Woodcutter" is a delightful story about a myopic woodcutter who misguidedly helps quite a few familiar fairy tale characters while out gathering wood.
While this collection ignores some of the darker undertones of the Perrault* version of the story--and only nods to the Grimm version in "Why Willy and His Borther Won't Ever Amount to Anything" without mentioning Perrault at all--the collection is solid with a range of stories to appeal to readers of every age and persuasion.
With a snappy tone and amusing starts to every story along the lines of "Once upon a time, before department stores and designer labels . . ." Cloaked in Red is filled with stories that are approachable and fun. This would be a great collection to pair with picture book versions of Little Red Riding Hood, to read aloud, or even to use as a primer on short story writing.
*The moral from the Perrault story is as follows: "Children, especially attractive, well bred young ladies, should never talk to strangers, for if they should do so, they may well provide dinner for a wolf. I say "wolf," but there are various kinds of wolves. There are also those who are charming, quiet, polite, unassuming, complacent, and sweet, who pursue young women at home and in the streets. And unfortunately, it is these gentle wolves who are the most dangerous ones of all." It's safe to say the moral is hinting at a bit more than actual wolves.
Possible Pairings: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, The Curiosities by Tessa Gratton, Maggie Stiefvater and Brenna Yovanoff, The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy, Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, Enchanted by Alethea Kontis, The Rumpelstiltskin Problem by Vivian Vande Velde
Then you have Little Red Riding Hood. How oblivious can one child be? Why was she left unsupervised in the woods? Why a red hood at all?
Many questions. Not so many answers.
Plenty of opportunities for new retellings in Cloaked in Red (2010) by Vivian Vande Velde.
This collection runs in the same vein as Vande Velde's earlier collection The Rumpelstiltskin Problem. An author's note starts the volume in which Vande Velde outlines the numerous problems with the original Little Red Riding Hood.
In the eight stories in this collection Vande Velde offers a different slant on the story. "Little Red Riding Hood's Family" offers a very clever, whimsical explanation of why Little Red would not be concerned to find her grandmother looking like a wolf. "Granny and the Wolf" delves deeper into the relationship between Granny and the woodcutter (not to mention the wolf). "Deems the Woodcutter" is a delightful story about a myopic woodcutter who misguidedly helps quite a few familiar fairy tale characters while out gathering wood.
While this collection ignores some of the darker undertones of the Perrault* version of the story--and only nods to the Grimm version in "Why Willy and His Borther Won't Ever Amount to Anything" without mentioning Perrault at all--the collection is solid with a range of stories to appeal to readers of every age and persuasion.
With a snappy tone and amusing starts to every story along the lines of "Once upon a time, before department stores and designer labels . . ." Cloaked in Red is filled with stories that are approachable and fun. This would be a great collection to pair with picture book versions of Little Red Riding Hood, to read aloud, or even to use as a primer on short story writing.
*The moral from the Perrault story is as follows: "Children, especially attractive, well bred young ladies, should never talk to strangers, for if they should do so, they may well provide dinner for a wolf. I say "wolf," but there are various kinds of wolves. There are also those who are charming, quiet, polite, unassuming, complacent, and sweet, who pursue young women at home and in the streets. And unfortunately, it is these gentle wolves who are the most dangerous ones of all." It's safe to say the moral is hinting at a bit more than actual wolves.
Possible Pairings: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, The Curiosities by Tessa Gratton, Maggie Stiefvater and Brenna Yovanoff, The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy, Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, Enchanted by Alethea Kontis, The Rumpelstiltskin Problem by Vivian Vande Velde