Red Riding Hood

July 22, 2019
In an illustrator’s foreword, Greenaway Medalist Oxenbury discusses what drew her to Potter’s retelling of M. Perrault’s fairy tale: its setting, “so rooted in the English countryside,” and the allure of drawing a villain. The rhythmic text follows a formal, old-fashioned style: “Put on thy little red hood and trot away to thy granny’s,” the girl’s mother tells her as the story begins. Merry woodcutters work in the forest, but no one sees the girl pass by. The wolf, dressed in wool breeches and two-toned shoes, hides from the woodcutters, “afraid of them,” until he sees Little Red Riding Hood, ushering in the story’s eeriest moment: “He had eaten nothing for three days, and his mouth watered when he looked at her.” Potter’s telling follows Perrault’s original closely, with a slight twist at the end, and Oxenbury keeps the art focused on the duo’s movements and the wolf’s preparations as he skulks through the garden and leaps into Granny’s bed. (His lumpy snout and snaggletoothed grin simultaneously charm and terrify.) With silvery lines and muted colors, Oxenbury’s faithful, meticulously executed artwork befits this new version of the classic. Ages 3–7.