Little Red Gliding Hood

July 13, 2015
An icy enchanted forest is home to a bevy of fairy tale characters, including Little Red Gliding Hood, an ice skater set on winning a new pair of skates in a skating competition. Lazar packs her story with fairy tale–based jokes as Little Red finds an ally in the Big Bad Wolf, who is also a capable skater. The competition gets off to a rocky start (“The wolf frightened Little Miss Muffet away. She bumped Little Jack Horner into the corner. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall”), but Little Red and the wolf emerge victorious. Cummings’s cartoons feel as slick as ice, creating a playful backdrop for Lazar’s wintry nursery rhyme punning. Ages 2–5. Author’s agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Illustrator’s agent: Ronnie Ann Herman, Herman Agency.

August 1, 2015
A girl in a hood glides into a new version of an old story. Little Red (refreshingly, a winsome child of color) is one dazzling ice skater. Trouble is, her skates are so shabby and tight they might soon keep her from her weekly visits to Grandma's. Then a pairs competition is announced, with new skates as the prize. New problem: everyone else seems to be partnered up already-Hansel with Gretel, the Dish with the Spoon, for example-or is unsuitable. Red dashes to Grandma's for ideas. However, the Big Bad Wolf frightens her, and she skates away with lightning speed, nearly taking a nasty spill. Not to worry: Wolf rescues Red, compliments her prowess, and points out his own worn-out skates. Can you guess who'll be Red's partner? The day of the event, Wolf terrifies all the other competitors, but he's redeemed when Red declares they're a pair. Their spins and twirls leave everyone else in the, er, dust, and Mother Goose is on hand to award them their brand-new skates. Readers up on popular fairy tales and nursery rhymes will savor and chuckle at the sly visual and textual allusions to a host of well-known characters from these familiar childhood tales. The author also humorously works (and twerks) well-known phrases from these stories and rhymes into her text. The colorful retro illustrations are aptly cartoonlike, portraying characters, Red in particular, with large innocent eyes, befitting make-believe, updated protagonists. No skating on thin ice here-it's a winner. (Picture book. 4-7)

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September 1, 2015

K-Gr 3-With a swizzle and a twizzle, Little Red Gliding Hood skates across the title page as she heads down the river of a wintery wonderland. Along the way, she notices a banner for a skating competition with golden skates offered as the prize. Her rundown pair needs to be replaced, but there's a problem-she needs a partner. In this funny fairy tale and nursery rhyme mash-up, characters from their respective stories team up to compete, but what about Red? Turns out the Big Bad Wolf is not so bad, and he needs some new skates, too. Many other tales also make cameos, and it's fun to try and name those that the text does not mention. The text, which strings together revised versions of well-known lines ("All the king's horses and all the king's men put the competition together again"), is the centerpiece. Everything is united by a cartoon style with magical colors-think Candy Land in winter. Even with all the changes, the story still follows the general drift of the original: little girl goes to her grandma's house, wolf appears, and a woodsman tries to save the day. Only one aspect differs significantly...the wolf is on the winning side. VERDICT A wonderful winter-themed fractured fairy tale with so many clever details that kids will want to read again and again.-Rachel Forbes, Oakville Public Library, Ontario, Canada

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 1, 2015
Preschool-G *Starred Review* Oh, slippery slush! Little Red Riding Hood has been delightfully mashed up with ice-skating (you read that right) in this frosty version featuring a refreshingly diverse cast of familiar characters. Little Red Gliding Hood, so named for her superb skating skills, wants to enter the pairs competition to win much-needed new skates. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a partner. The Gingerbread Man is sweet but too fast, while Goldilocks has already claimed Baby Bear. Grandma suggests asking the Three Little Pigs, but while there, Red encounters the Big Bad Wolf. As Red skates off, the wolf follows, and it turns out he is not bad on the icein fact, he is pretty darn good! They make quite the pair, as well as a bit of a ruckus when the wolf scares off most of the enchanted forest folk. Once all the king's horses and all the king's men have put everything back together again, no one will be surprised at who wins the competition. The reliably fun concept of odd-couple ice-skaters is perfectly meshed into a clever narrative enhanced by candy-colored artwork ripe with inside jokes. This one begs to be read both over the river and through the woods.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)