Review: Cloaked in Red - Vivian Vande Velde

Synopsis: So you think you know the story of Little Red Riding Hood, the girl with the unfortunate name and the inability to tell the difference between her grandmother and a member of a different species? Well, then, try your hand at answering these questions:

- Which character (not including Little Red herself) is the most fashion challenged?

- Who (not including the wolf) is the scariest?

- Who (not including Granny) is the most easily scared?

- Who is the strangest? (Not we're not "not including" anyone, because they're all a little off.)

- Who (no fair saying "the author") has stuffing for brains?

Review: In this thoroughly witty book (written by the twenty-times accomplished author Vivian Vande Velde), we the Readers are presented with eight different - and far more logical - looks at the Grimm brothers' most famous (or at least one of the most) stories Little Red Riding Hood, things being first kicked off with a hilarious Author's Note in the beginning, which must absolutely be read.

We are presented with an intelligent Little Red with an agreeable name, and a not-so-well-intentioned-woodcutter; we get a glimpse at a few rather odd versions that are so different that they are startlingly hilarious; and we also get to see the story from the woodcutter's perspective, Granny's, and yes, even the little red riding hood itself (although it's a full-fledged cloak and not just a riding hood).

Cloaked in Red is every bit as humorous as The Rumplestiltskin Problem, and anyone who is familiar with the Red Riding Hood story will get a kick out of it.
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