Little Red Riding Hood

by John S. Goodall

A wordless retelling of the fairy tale about the little girl who meets a hungry wolf in the forest.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fairy Tales

18 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 1988

About the author

John S. Goodall (7 June 1908 – 2 June 1996) was a British author, watercolour painter and illustrator, best known for his wordless picture books such as The Adventures of Paddy Pork, although his output included more conventional pictures, and illustrations for a wide range of publications (including the Radio Times) and books by the "fictitious village schoolmistress Miss Read". Goodall became one of England's most beloved artists due to the subject matter of his works, the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Reviews

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wordless version of Little Red Riding Hood. In this story, Little Red Riding Hood is a young Mouse who encounters many friendly animals on a journey through the forest. As she gets deeper in the forest, a wolf can be spotted lurking behind the trees. Eventually the well dressed wolf stops to chat with The little mouse before running ahead to eat her grandmother. The rest of the story follows the traditional Grimm story with detailed pictures. One of the unique parts of this book is that there are half pages in between the full pages. By turning a half page the mood that seemed innocent and inviting, can suddenly turn dark and dangerous. While this is a picture book, I would recommend it for 3rd - 5th graders because the death of the wolf is fairly graphic. This book would be great to use in a class where students are familiar with the traditional Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale because they could use the beautifully detailed pictures to tell the story in their own words.

[KC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little Red Riding Hood mousr and Big Bad Wolf face off in this beautifully illustrated no text version by John S Goodall.

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful wordless picture book with Little Red Riding Hood as a mouse. My seven-year-old and I both enjoyed it.

[Ch_amyM · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this wordless picture book John Goodall uses a mouse to tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood who is off to bring a basket of goodies to grandmother. As Red Riding Hood meets friends along the journey (mole, frog, etc.) the wolf is lurking in the background. Once he gets his information he is off to Grandmother's house where the usual series of events unfold. The pictures in this book are very charming and the story seems very sweet, until the wolf tries to eat Red Riding Hood. This book was published in 1988 but the pictures make it seem even older, but in a good way.
This would be a great book to use for a class "tell" aloud in which students who are familiar with the story get to tell it as you flip through the pages. For older students you could challenge them to write their own version using the pictures as a guide.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute version of the story. No words, only pictures. A little mouse plays the role of Little Red Riding Hood and she meets friends in the woods along the way before running into the scary wolf. The illustrations are suttle but colorful and would be very enjoyable for preschool and early readers.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this! The artwork is amazing!

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This version of Little Red Riding Hood is a wordless picture book. The characters are all animals, which helps bring the story to the level of young children. The book is structured with half pages which help move the story along within the same setting without having to add in multiple pages. For example, the large 2 page spread shows grandma's house. One half page shows the wolf attacking grandma, and when the half page is turned it now shows the wolf in bed dressed up as grandma. The story moves quickly along without words yet doesn't need a large amount of pages.

Although this book has no words and it has all animal characters, the story is true to it's original retelling by Charles Perrault. The images are rather violent, particularly when Grandma is attacked, when Red is attacked, and when the Woodsman kills the wolf. There is blood on the ax and furniture is knocked all over signaling a violent struggle. I would actually prefer to use this book with older students as a writing exercise. The students could use the illustrations to guide their own retelling of the story.

Grades: 3-5, younger with discretion

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The classic story, with mice and Goodall's retro style & wordlessness & flaps. A little gorier than some versions. Doesn't, imo, add anything to a reader's experience of the story as told in so many other versions. Try the one by Trina Schart Hyman instead. Or just *tell* it, instead of reading it.

[RLL520_ColeenDuPuy Dupuy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely one of the unique versions of Little Red Riding Hood. In this version of the story, Little Red Riding Hood is a mouse and probably the most unique aspect of this story is there are no words. The story is told through detailed pictures which help not only tell the story, but also create the mood. Young readers will probably appreciate the layout of this story, some pages only contain half pages. The half pages are used to create a serene mood and when switched, create a more dark mood. I think this would be an interesting book to show students who are not familiar with the original story. It would also be a great book for slightly older students who could possibly create the missing text based on the pictures in this book and their previous experiences reading this story.

[Emily Birecki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a very interesting version of the story. I think it would scare kids a little too much as there is a lot of blood. The pictures are well done and will keep children engaged. This is a book without words so a lot of it is up to the reader. I thought this book was above average, yet not one of my favorites. I also don't think that little red riding hood should be a mouse, but
i can see why people think it is cute. I would be hesitant to present this book in a classroom setting because of its violent and graphic pictures.

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This retelling of the classic folktale is told without words with anthropomorphized characters. Although this story is wordless the plot is easily conveyed through the beautiful watercolors and half pages between the full pages help show movement. With children, there are some scary images surrounding the rat (wolf in the traditional story), the grandmother, and the woodsman. Also in regards to children the characters are drawn so it is easy to recognize the difference between good and bad characters.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little Red Riding Hood, a mouse, sets out to bring her grandmother some food and flowers. On the way she encounters lots of friendly animals. A wolf eats her grandmother and then tries to eat Little Red Riding Hood when she enters the house. Luckily a woodcutter hears her cry for help, and the day is saved.

[Nielson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a mouse version of Little Red Riding Hood. I liked the pictures, but they are very graphic. There was blood and eating grandma. It was a little confusing with the half pages. I would want a different version in my classroom.

[Larysa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This version of Little Red Riding Hood is beautiful wordless picture book. The characters in the story are all animals. Each page had a little flap to add to what was going on in the story, and there was so much detail to explore.

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Little Red Riding Hood, but told with mice. THe illustrations were pretty graphic, with a lot of blood.

[Devin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this picture book because of the flip-parts on the pages to change the pictures. I think most kids are familiar enough with this story that it would be very easy for them to put in the text.

[Loralie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a neat wordless version of the classic Little Red Riding Hood. The pictures are fantastic.

[Katherine Pershey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aaaaaaagh! Nightmares!!!