Sunday, October 12, 2014

The cat, the dog, Little Red, the exploding eggs, the wolf and Grandma's wardrobe by Diane and Christyan Fox


Warning this is a seriously FUNNY book!  Start on the first page - the end papers :

Dog - "What's this page for?" 
Cat -  "It's called the end paper, but it always comes at the beginning."

The cat, the dog, little Red, the exploding eggs, the wolf and Grandma's wardrobe - all sounds a bit complicated to me.  Actually it is not all that complicated for an intrepid reader who is well versed in the story of Little Red Riding Hood and this is the essence of the humour here.  Dog has no knowledge of this famous story and so he interrupts cat at every turn.

Cat "It's a story about a little girl who always wears a red cloak with a hood."
Dog "COOL I love stories about superheroes.  What's her special power?"

The book becomes a conversation between cat and dog.  Cat grows increasingly frustrated by dog as he jumps into to ask questions such as 'What is a dainty"  The handwritten text and simple dog and cat line drawings add to the fun.

My favourite line comes near the end as dog attempts to summarize the story of Red Riding Hood.  "It's not a very nice story, is it?  Are you absolutely sure this is a children's book?"

Here is a trailer from Scholastic.  Here is a review worth reading.  Kirkus call this metafiction I would perhaps put it into the postmodern category too.  It is part of my "Picture books with a difference" Pinterest collection.  Christyan Fox has a terrific web site.

One last thing make sure you turn to the back cover - this is the real end to the story.





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