Member Reviews
After having spent a while trying to figure out how to put my thoughts about this into words, I have given up. I think what it boils down to is that it is just not for me.
A retelling of a childhood classic, The Little Red Riding Hood, this little book turns that tale on its head and tells the story from the wolf's point of view. A new perspective to an old story, basically. And I liked it. Kind of.
The illustrations, however, are gorgeous. Art rarely makes me "feel" things, but these hit something. And I think that might be what makes this simply not for me.
So a lot of the 2 star/ low rating given to this book is because it is "so dark and twisted to be read to children" or " Who would read this as a bedtime story". And yes, I understand and respect those point of views, but let me tell you something. I would have fell involve with this Graphic Novel if it was gifted to me as kid. I love dark, gritty, twisted stories. Love Tim Burton's Work and Edgar Allan Poe's writing. And I am sure that I am not the only one. Okay? Now let me talk about why I really like The Little Red Wolf!
The title because it implied a theme that is very similar to one of my WIP! Sure, I was a bit disappointed to figure out that my story isn't going to be 100% original, but in the end inspiration is never equivalent to a copycat. So here is to being hit by the same inspiration arrow.
The illustrations. Those were " Dark, twisted, and Gritty in the most beautiful way ever. I would sometimes stay on the page for a few minutes after reading it, just to dwell on the illustration's beauty.
The Twist at the end of the story that brought me back to life after being bit bored with how predictable the storyline was. The twist had me " Like Whoa".
I received an eARC in exchange with an honest review.
First and foremost, the illustrations of this book were absolutely gorgeous. The writer also did a good job of turning expectations on their side. The pacing of the story was excellent and the final lesson/reveal was poignant. All in all, it was a delight to read and look at.
This book is a Little Red Riding Hood retelling.
The art’s really beautiful, every page mesmerized me.
The story is really short and sweet, it’s a perfect bed time read.
The characters are lovely, they’re just like the original story’s.
Honestly, I think that, if you have to take care of small children, you should read them this story. Its moral is wonderful and its drawings really pretty.
Quite confunsed about this.. If you would have to guess based on the graphics, you would say it's a children's book, as it is kind of crude, but also beautiful, intricate, dreamy, and fairytale-like. But I wouldn't read my children such a strange and sinister story, the more so as there is no proper counsel for children, nor a real resolution, the ending being very abrupt.
Illustrations: ★★★★+
Story: ★ ★ ★+ (adult wise), ★ (as a children bedtime story)
Ending: ★
I would say this is meant to be a magical realism, but it's not really my cup of coffee.. I tended to rate it higher because of the illustrations, but trusting the general feeling after reading it, I'll stick with a lower rating.
My initial thought when I began this book was that it was a beautiful Little Red Riding Hood retelling, featuring a young wolf in the titular role instead of the little girl. That sounds lovely and I would've enjoyed it, but fortunately what I got was SO much more. The illustrations are absolutely stunning and combined with the story they create a wonderful, atmospheric read. The story begins like any sweet, simple fairy tale with the moral visible a mile a way but very quickly morphs into a dark and creepy story worthy of The Brother's Grimm. There were a couple of times that I thought I had it figured out and it proved me wrong with every twist and turn. I was enthralled throughout and as soon as I read the last page, I flipped back to the beginning and read it again. I would recommend this to anyone who appreciates the illustration style and likes their juvenile fiction creepy and dark. I will be thinking about this one for awhile.
Well, that was dark and depressing. The young wolf is on his way to his grandmother's house to deliver a freshly slaughtered rabbit and is warned to stay away from a certain area of the forest because that's where the horrible hunter and his daughter live. On the way he gets distracted, hungry and lost. He eats the rabbit intended for his grandmother and then worries about getting into trouble.
Along comes a nice young girl who offers to take him to her place for a replacement rabbit and he naïvely follows, unknowingly walking into a trap. We end up hearing two versions of the same story at the end of the book, both told as songs to the same tune. [spoiler: In one version the wolves killed the hunter's wife. Therefore, wolves are evil and we must kill them all. In the other version the hunter's wife was friends with the wolves and when the hunter couldn't find his wife one night he got worried and searched for her. Seeing her with the wolves he was afraid and shot at the wolves, accidentally killing his wife.]
While some of the illustrations are intricate and gorgeous, others are dark and would most likely give young children nightmares if this was their bedtime story. I know that generally the fairy tales we've known all our lives didn't originate with the Disney version we're used to but that doesn't mean I want to read them to a young child. I can see this book being appreciated by some older children and adults but I personally wouldn't want to buy it.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley (thank you very much to NetGalley, Lion Forge and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity) in exchange for honest feedback.
I’d heard of Amélie Fléchais before, since she is a French artist and I had already seen her books in bookshopes but I had never read anything from her yet. Don’t ask me why, because they really all look very good! When I saw on netgalley that this one was available to read I gladly jumped on the occasion.
And wow, this children’s picture book was so so so beautiful! From the cover I knew I would love the art, and I wasn’t wrong. There are a lot of details that catches the eye, the colour are vibrant, soft… I’ll go to the extent to say that even without any text this would have been wonderful!
The story follows a little wolf who has to go through the forest to bring a meal to his grandmother. Of course this is a retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood with the roles reversed. Here, the wolf is the innocent main character, and humans are the monster in the forest. The story quickly takes a dark turn, reflected in the dark tones of the artworks. Like most tales aimed at children, this is slightly scary in a stunning way, but works really well at teaching a lesson.
My only problem is that the ending was a bit abrupt. I felt like there should have been a bit more, I was expecting to follow this cute wolf just a little while longer. Still, it was a nice ending nonetheless, showing that there are always two sides to a story with a great twist.
This is a short and beautiful book, that I would recommend. This is one of those where you wish you could sent a copy to your younger self, so I would definitely buy it for me or for a child. I even went to the library to read it again in French, and be able to look even more at the beautiful artworks.
Such a beautiful book. Not only is it a lovely twist to the little red riding hood story, the artwork is amazing. It's so beautiful - I would be tempted to purchase the book just to hang the art on my walls. I do have to say I was thrilled that the story surprised me. It was just different enough that I couldn't exactly predict what would happen next.
What I love is that there are no real villains in the story. They each have their side of the story. It's so well done that this book just frighten a child just enough to make them nervous but not enough to leave them with a lingering fear. I highly recommend this book. The artwork alone is worth it.
This is a nice little twist on an old story I've heard my whole life. I always enjoy read re-tellings and this one was a simple change of switching the characters roles around and the story still has the same lessons. I liked how the girl and the wolfs dad had their own vision of an event.
The art is wonderful, it brings the words to life. The colors of the story set a theme of the book, a little spooky. Over all this was a good read. I feel that this could be a fun read for children, better read while it's in Fall.
This is an honest review - book gave to me by - NetGalley
Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful!
This wonderful twist on the iconic classic was just perfect.
Little Red Riding Wolf embarks on a journey through the forest to his grandmother's house but it told to watch out for the hunter and his daughter.
Illustrations were beautiful and literally sucked you into the page.
Everyone knows how this story goes and the little twist at the end was poignant and perfect.
I will be recommending this to all children 5 and under.
Great storytime book for libraries.
While the artwork is some of the best I've seen in a really long time, the ending, however, was a little depressing to be read to my kid. Would have liked this story in maybe an adult short story collection rather than for little ones. Overall, good book.
Little Red Wolf: What you bring in your baggage is your own business
The story of Little Red Riding Hood has always been a wonderful morality tale. The interpretation of it has been wide spread. Some view it as a cautionary story telling of the dangers of strange men with young girls. Others interpret as following the righteous path vs the non. Some view Red Riding Hood as nothing but a playful story and don't read any deeper. Each person who reads or hears it has a slightly different take, and it impacts them at some level. I myself have always been a fan of the Riding Hood story, but in recent years have felt inundated by exposure to the tale. It seems like corporate commercials, TV shows, and the likes are all stabbing at it and taking reference.
Maybe this is simply an artifact of my own generation, that the age bracket I inhabit was more strongly influenced than others.
AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER! - 10/03 Release!
Little Red Wolf (Amélie Fléchais)
Translated by Jeremy Melloul
80 pages
Lion Forge
ISBN-10: 1941302459
ISBN-13: 978-1941302453
Little Red Wolf was a fresh approach that did not follow directly in the footsteps of the original, meandering its own path through the woods, damn the consequences. I read this on the couch with my 3-year-old daughter. She was easily as captivated as I was, with beautiful artwork and lyrical text that flows from the pages.
Little Red Wolf is the tale of a small cub who is sent on a trip through the woods to his Grandmother's house. His Grandmother is too old and frail to hunt for herself, so presented with a dead rabbit to deliver, Little Red Wolf heads through the forest. He is given classic advice to stay the path and avoid the area where the Hunter and his daughter live, for they are killers of wolves and will give no mercy.
Little Red is easily distracted and finds himself lost in the woods, with no idea where the safe trail can be found. He eats bits and pieces of his delivery food until all that is left is bones. He is afraid he will be in trouble, as children do, begins to cry.
This is where the story changes from the traditional morality tale and becomes a great work unto itself. The wolf is approached in the forest by a young beautiful girl. The girl seems to be nice and is willing to help the wolf get a new fresh rabbit to take to his grandmother.
The little girl takes the wolf to her home, telling him a tale of a man who fell in love with a wild woman of the forest (her mother and father). She speaks of the adventure and terrors they fought. It turns out that every story has multiple interpretations, just like the original story of Red Riding Hood. While no single telling of the story is wrong, with out all the facts, they are exactly that, interpretations alone.
This book was really amazing. Lion Forge really seems to have tapped into a graphic novel and comic market that non-French speaking individuals should be giddy to gain access to, as this is another Translation success. This is the second translation I have read by Jeremy Melloul, and I am very impressed by the ease it crosses over the barrier, feeling like it was native to English, rather than a clumsy duplication.
The core story, written and drawn by Amélie Fléchais, is outstanding. Being that this was read with my daughter, I felt very comfortable with the beautiful artwork, topic matter, and overall presentation. The story itself was more in the presentation of a short children's book rather than a graphic novel, and it reads easily and clearly. I will have to search for other work (written or artistic) by her.
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Disclosure: This graphic novel was presented to me for review purposes by the publisher. I should have told them that while reviewing I might probably be eating donuts and an altered mental state by proxy of sugar high may be in play. I doubt they would have listened, however, as people just assume that fat bearded men are probably always eating donuts, sitting next to cops perhaps, or in basements hiding like trolls in some Tolkien-esque nightmare. I can vouch however that if I DID eat a donut, the sugar and carbs associated did not sway my opinion of this work, neither did the early access copy that my review is based on.
The art is stunning! I love the layers of shades and textures made to create depth.
I like how the dead rabbits look sad and asleep rather than gruesomly dead.
That was such a sweet and melancholy story. The ending caught me by suprise and left me feeling rather down. It was an interesting spin on the classic <i>Little red riding hood.</i>
It was a very quick read but something I'd love to have in my collection. It is very expensive though, so I'm not sure I'd ever buy it for myself.
Beautiful and haunting twist on Little Red Riding Hood that reminds us we can't always believe what we're told. The layers and texture in the art create such a lush and emotional world. Fans of the Song of the Sea will enjoy this in particular.
The publisher provided me with the opportunity to read this in exchange for providing feedback. (via NetGalley)
3.75 stars. Interesting retelling of a classic that I wasn't expecting going in. The illustrations were pretty cool too.
This was such a cute and charming story! It did have a dark turn that I was not expecting, but I did thoroughly enjoy myself while reading it. I thought that it would be a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, which I suppose in a way, it is. I absolutely loved the style of art that was throughout this entire graphic novel. I feel like it might be a little too mature for a young child, say 6 or 7, but I could definitely see it for someone who was a little bit older than that.
An arc was provided generously in exchange of an honest review via Netgalley.*
As an adult I liked this book, but I will never buy it for my daughter. The pictures in a book are amazing! Fonts and illustrations make the book beautiful. I didn't like some parts of the text. And the plot is fairly speaking grizzly. I would expect that this book is perfect as a children's horror story with a happy ending for 10-13 year olds.
Though the art is absolutely beautiful, I didn't find I enjoyed the style of writing, and maybe that has to do with the translation from French to English. The actual story of it I did enjoy, I thought it was a nice role reversal and it felt very fairytale/myth/folklore story like, which is something I tend to enjoy. I felt that this would make a better children's picture book instead of a graphic novel, and felt that the chapters ended somewhat abruptly. I would have loved a little more of a rhyming scheme as well. Overall it was alright.