The Story
Little Red Riding Hood is a classic children’s fairy tale that moralizes the dangers of meeting up with the bad wolves of this world. Josephine Brett-Secker’s retelling adds a little depth to the concerns surrounding dangerous wolves and what might happen if we listen.
Brett-Secker’s retelling is very close to the darker version of the story that has the wolf swallow both grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood whole. The woodcutter rescues them and then they carefully load the wolf with stones so that he falls dead when he tries to get up. There is nothing wrong with the traditional and dark tone of this story – it goes back to earlier versions. But...
Brett-Secker’s subtly adds her own dark but compelling twist. She introduces the story by telling us that Little Red Riding Hood is a quiet and good little girl who was never noticed until she acquired her bright red cape made by her adoring grandmother. Suddenly, everyone knows who Little Red Riding Hood is.
The wolf does more than simply lie to Little Red Riding Hood, he opens her eyes and ears to things she never noticed before. He brings to her attention the song of the birds and the delight of a lovely meadow full of flowers.
In the end, Little Red Riding Hood tells her grandmother of her experiences including her introduction to the beauties of birdsong and wildflowers. She wonders, would she turn away from another wolf if she met him?
The Illustrations
The illustrations by Nicoletta Ceccoli are brilliantly colored and beautiful. They are not realistic but elongated and stylized renditions of the common and make us view the world a little bit differently.
Ceccoli’s illustrations of the wolf are particularly compelling. The wolf is huge and sinuous. In the scene where he first approaches Little Red Riding Hood, he nearly wraps himself completely around her in a huge circle of wolfishness.
She also does a wonderful job with the scene of Little Red Riding Hood picking flowers. Little Red Riding Hood ‘looked like a flower herself in the midst of the clearing, in her bright red cap. So thought the wolf as he watched her” Ceccoli runs with that image.
In Conclusion
Little Red Riding Hood is a disturbing fairy tale in its traditional form and Brett-Secker’s version only increases the drama. Brett-Secker’s realizes that a temptation escaped does not cease to tempt. This version of the story is certainly worth reading with older children and used as a conversation starter about the nature of temptation and danger.
To learn more about the original fairy tale, read Little Red Riding Hood: A Fairy Tale with the Metaphors of the Color Red and Menacing Wolves.
Little Red Riding Hood. Retold by Josephine Bretts-Secker, Illustrated by Nicoletta Ceccoli. Barefoot Books, 2004. ISBN 1-84148-621-3.
