Ninja Red Riding Hood

K-Gr 3—This action-packed fractured fairy tale is sure to excite young readers. Wolf is tired of getting beaten by his prey, so he sneaks into a martial-arts school to enhance his fighting skills. Feeling confident in his newfound abilities, he is eager to return to the hunt. He happens upon Little Red Riding Hood and thinks that he can trick her into becoming his next meal. What he doesn't bargain for, however, is that she has gone to ninja school, too. A sparring match ensues. A surprise visit from a tai chi master, though, gives Red the upper hand and puts Wolf on a new path of enlightenment. "The wolf was a mess./He'd had way too much stress./'I guess I'll give yoga a try.'" Children will gravatate to the rhyming text and exciting illustrations, created by Sumi brush work on rice paper. Speech bubbles and dialogue further enhance the story. The characters' facial expressions and body language will have kids laughing as Red and Wolf each try to best the other. A fun read-aloud, but also great for independent reading, this story piggybacks on Schwartz's Three Ninja Pigs (Putnam, 2012), in which the three little pigs share their ninja skills with their friends.—Amy Shepherd, St. Anne's Episcopal School, Middleton, DE