Mighty Red Riding Hood (Fairly Queer Tales #1)

by Wallace West (Author)

Mighty Red Riding Hood (Fairly Queer Tales #1)
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

In this clever twist on a traditional tale, a boy who loves his frilly, swishy riding hood turns the tables on a big, bad, bullying wolf!

Better not mess with Little Red when he's got on his favorite frilly red riding hood! It makes him feel happier than a pig in mud, more special than a birthday cake, and mighty as a firecracker. Nothing's gonna stop him from being himself...Not even a big ol' bully of a wolf! With admirable spunk and a heaping helping of southern humor and hospitality, Little Red finds a way to crack the shell of the closed-minded wolf's perception of frills and bows.

This refreshingly spirited version of the classic tale of Little Red Riding Hood explores the challenge of staying on your path when confronted by strangers who don't want to understand you.

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$17.99

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West obviously has had great fun telling his fractured fairy tale in a rustic backwoods dialect and matches it with cartoon-style pictures that capture the antic tone of the text perfectly. His gender-flipped classic painlessly defies gender norms to empowering effect.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3--With all the amiability of Todd Parr, the loose cartoon drawing style of the fractured fairy tales from Saturday morning's Bullwinkle & Rocky, and the wide-open welcome of Jonathan Van Ness, this story turns Red Riding Hood inside out and reveals a Southern-fried story of keeping things friendly no matter our differences. Little Red's Moo Moo (grandmother) gives him a cloak that makes him feel mighty and when his errand is to take his own mother's failed baking attempts out of the house to Moo Moo's, he's ready. A mean old wolf keeps trying to throw Little Red off his grand mood by challenging his choice of outfit, stating that the red cloak is more for girls than boys. But Little Red, in the most charming vernacular this side of Kansas ("'I'm mighty when I wear this, ' Little Red said to the whole wide woods. 'I'm not trading it for some plain old socks to satisfy a grumbly grump telling boys what they should and shouldn't wear'"), deflects all instructions and insults, befriending the wolf and inviting him over to Moo Moo's. The language will have children laughing, the lesson is sensible not syrupy, and the ending a pure surprise. VERDICT A classic in the making, for all fairy-tale shelves, and sure to be a read-aloud favorite.--Kimberly Olson Fakih

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes



Wallace West
Wallace West, a native of Texas, is a graphic designer and copywriter. This is his debut picture book. He lives in San Antonio, and he invites you to visit him at wallacewest.com.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780316628358
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date
May 20, 2022
Series
Fairly Queer Tales
BISAC categories
JUV039050 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Emotions & Feelings
JUV012040 - Juvenile Fiction | Fairy Tales & Folklore | Adaptations
JUV060000 - Juvenile Fiction | LGBT
Library of Congress categories
Clothing and dress
Sex role

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