"Little Bad Wolf and Red Riding Hood" by Timothy Tocher

 Normally I like fun re-tellings of fairy tales. Sure, there are a lot of bad ones out there, but there also quite a few that are great. I'm still not sure how I feel about Timothy Tocher's Little Bad Wolf and Red Riding Hood. I did enjoy reading it, but as I found myself laughing as I read, I wondered if the jokes would really appeal to kids or if this story would be better enjoyed by adults.

Little Bad Wolf's father has been missing for a week. He's beginning to worry. How are he and his mother going to get food without his father? Soon he meets a girl in a red cloak and he devises a plan to get food from Little Red Riding Hood. What he doesn't know, is that his father has already devised a similar plan. 

I did like that this book had absolutely no violence (no, I'm not someone who gets upset with violence in kids books, but I do remember that the scene where the hunter would cut Grandma and Little Red out of the Grandmother freaked me out as a kid. So this change was a plus for me). I was also amused that instead of eating Grandma, the Big Bad Wolf had just taken advantage of the fact that Grandma had just gone to Florida. However, I couldn't help but think of times when I have shared other funny re-tellings of Fairy Tales. It always seems like the majority of kids are bored or a little confused by the changes whereas adults usually get a kick out of it. Because of this, I have a hard time believing that kids will be overly fond of this read. But since I enjoyed it, it might be worth it just for a fun read for the adults.

Happy Reading!
-Melly