I am a fan of Princess Pink (Princess being her first name, Pink her last) an un- girly-girl of color who travels through her fridge to a land of fractured fairy tales. So I was very happy when Little Red Quacking Hood (Scholastic, August 2014) appeared in my mail last August, and I read it very quickly so I could pass it on the same day to a young friend, another girl of color who loved the first book to pieces. And I wrote some thoughts down then and there, and saved that post, thinking, for No Good Reason at all, that the book was coming out in October....
It is now October, and I see that the book came out in August. I am Ashamed that I did not more successfully help promote a book I think fills a pretty empty niche--easy reader books that are subversive fairy-tale fantasy adventures starring a girl of color who subverts dominant paradigms of girly girls.
In this episode, Princess and her friend Moldylocks help Scaredy Pants Wolf stop Little Red Quaking Hood from stealing the pies from his bakery. But Little Red is not acting alone--it is Grandmother Quaking Hood who is the mastermind behind the pie thefts! And when she gets her wings on Princess, things get rather tense....
It is funny, silly, and smart--great for emergent readers. And I personally really really appreciated the illustrations of Princess and Moldylocks and the Wolf dressed as ducks. And I shall go make up for my Reviewing Fail by nominating it for the Cybils.
Here is my review of Book 1 (Moldylocks and the Three Beards).
disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher
I definitely think there aren't enough subversive fairy tales for easy readers, which is interesting since they flood other niches. Maybe my niece would like these.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter adores the first book in this series. We coincidentally just got the second book yesterday - I ordered it after realizing that Scholastic was not apparently going to send it :-) Haven't had a chance to read Book 2 myself yet, but I'm glad it holds up for you.
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