This is a very new, and very fun take on the red riding hood story. It would be awesome done with 2 people for story time, or even made into reader theater, a puppet show, or a felt board. ( )

So sheepy! ( )

As our narrator attempts to spin the traditional tale of Little Red Riding Hood, he finds himself interrupted by Arnold the sheep, determined to star in the story. Arnold has a number of suggestions for improving the narrative, from casting his friends - Einer the muskrat and Frankie the warthog - as the characters to setting everything in Palm Springs (so much less frightening than the woods!). Eventually the narrator gives in, and the story goes in a different direction from the one originally intended...

I found Little Red Riding Sheep an enjoyable fractured fairy-tale, and would imagine that, with its back-and-forth between Arnold and Eugene the narrator, it will make for an amusing read-aloud selection at story-time. The artwork by Canadian illustrator Cale Atkinson are colorful and appealing, capturing the madcap humor in author Linda Ravin Lodding's story quite well. Recommended to anyone looking for revisionist fairy-tale retellings, as well as to those who enjoy more meta-fictional picture-books. ( )