Little Red Riding Hood and the Dragon
by Ying Chang Compestine (Author) Joy Ang (Illustrator)
Award-winning author Ying Compestine reimagines the classic fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood" from a Chinese perspective
By now, you have probably heard the old folk tale about a girl in a red cape.
The truth is that the story took place here in China, there wasn't a woodsman, and I, the gentle wolf, certainly was not the one who ate them.
Here is the real story.
This is not the story you think you know. In this version of the classic fairy tale, Little Red lives in a village near the Great Wall and trains in kung fu. When she ventures to her grandmother's to deliver rice cakes and herbal medicine, she encounters something much more fearsome than a wolf--a mighty dragon. With her wits and a sword in hand, Little Red must valiantly defend herself and her grandmother in this vibrant retelling from Ying Chang Compestine and Joy Ang.
An author's note discusses how this reimagining is influenced by Chinese mythology, symbolism, traditional medicine, and other elements of Compestine's heritage.
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Publishers Weekly
Taking a village near China's Great Wall as this story's setting, Chang Compestine empowers with a retelling that casts the red-hooded heroine as a kung fu performer. A bespectacled, "gentle" gray wolf opens, offering to tell "the real story." As Little Red heads to Na˘inai's carrying an herbal soup and a "big, sweet rice cake," a long lean dragon, depicted in Ang's sleek digital illustrations with golden eyes and a green mane, becomes the villain, suggesting that the child stray from the path to dig ginseng root. Once consumed by the beast, Little Red finds within its belly a yo-yo, silk ribbons, a drum, and a suona--tools she uses in combination with martial arts to escape. Throughout, the girl demonstrates courage as she comforts Na˘inai and vanquishes the dragon for a jubilant conclusion that still manages to cast doubt on the wolf's trustworthiness. An author's note and glossary conclude. Ages 4-8. (Nov.)
Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
JUV002270 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Dragons, Unicorns & Mythical
JUV012040 - Juvenile Fiction | Fairy Tales & Folklore | Adaptations
Fairy tales
Dragons
China
Martial arts
Mythology, Chinese
