Red Riding Hood!

Picture of me dressed as Red Riding Hood!

As a kid, I have always been fascinated by the story of Red Riding Hood. In many ways I sort of identified with her – an innocent little girl who loves red and loves to visit her grandma! In fact, when I was about Abhay’s age, I had dressed up as Red Riding Hood at a fancy dress event in school. Now after all these years, I still love the color red and have admired my grandma, who is now no more, but I have somewhere lost that innocence or the unstoppable excitement that Red Riding Hood represents, or for that matter any kid signifies! You may call it a innocence or niavete, but there was something charming about Red Riding Hood that still appeals to the  little girl in me! So imagine my delight when I discovered that out of all the classic children’s stories like Goldilocks or Three little pigs or Elves and the Shoemaker, Abhay’s favorite is Red Riding Hood  …..and that too for the exact same reasons! He adores the color red and well.....need I even mention how much he loves going to his grand parents’ house! Though I had stayed away from reading the same old classics  thinking that he would anyways have access to them in school or on TV, I had to read this one...both for my little one and the little girl I once was!:-)

Though there are several publications of this timeless tale, I picked up this one from the British Council Library titled “Little Red Riding Hood”  from Award Publications, a Read along with Me book and CD. Abhay enjoyed reading with the help of pictorial representations of various words. Though this didn’t amount to reading per se, but surely encourages kids to read on their own. This is a story of  a little girl who was so good that her mother decided  to make her a little red jacket with a hood and she looked so pretty that everyone called her Red Riding Hood. So begins the story of Red Riding Hood who sets off to see her grandma and has a dangerous run-in with the wolf. How she manages to escape from the clutches of the evil wolf is what will keep your little one on the edge of his or her bed! Besides, the story also conveys a valuable message warning the young ones of the dangers in talking to strangers! If you or your little one is a fan of Red Riding Hood….dont miss this one!