Ninja Red Riding Hood

Product Description Can a ninja-fied Little Red Riding Hood end with everyone happy? Find out in this fractured fairy tale that's sure to be a storytime hit. Wolf just can’t catch a break! Ever since the three little pigs started teaching everyone Ninja skills, huffing and puffing just hasn’t been enough to scare up a good meal. His craving for meat sends Wolf to classes at the dojo, and soon he’s ready to try out his new moves. A little girl and her tiny granny should be easy targets—right? Not if Little Red has anything to say about it! Kiya! Kids will be sure to fight over this companion to the hits The Three Ninja Pigs and Hensel and Gretel: Ninja Chicks! From School Library Journal 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 Review “Schwartz and Santat deliver a powerful karate chop of a picture book. . . As silly a trip to grandma’s house as there ever was.” —Kirkus Reviews “This action-packed fractured fairy tale is sure to excite young readers. . . . Children will gravitate to the rhyming text and exciting illustrations. . . . A fun read-aloud, but also great for independent reading.” —School Library Journal “Schwartz’s comic verse scans beautifully, tripping through the (bamboo) forest to grandma’s house with vigor and attitude. Santat’s artwork . . . divides the action into diagonal panels, maximizing the roundhouse impact.” —Booklist About the Author Corey Rosen Schwartz has no true Ninja training, but she can sure kick butt in Scrabble. She lives in Warren, New Jersey. Dan Santat is the creator of the Disney Channel’s animated hit The Replacements and also holds a black belt in Shotokan. He lives with his family in Los Angeles.