Summary

This is the story of Little Red Riding Hood’ s granddaughter. She lives on the prairie, and rides her bike through the wheat fields. She is on her way to visit her grandmother with some delectable wheatberry muffins. The wolf wants the muffins. Grandmother comes to the rescue. The recipe for the muffins is included in the book.

Activities

1. Teacher directed activity - Discuss with the students some of the things that cause physical and chemical changes—heat, freezing, water, and air. As you read the book to the students, have them listen for things that went through physical and/or chemical changes. After reading the book, have students list the changes.

2. This book is included on the You Go, Girl! list of "picture books that show girls can do it all!" (prepared by Val Owens). Read another book from the list. Make a chart of words and ways the author shows the main character as a "can do" individual.

3. Ask your school’s cook (class) or your mother to help you make the muffin recipe.

4. As a group, select another traditional fable or fairy tale. Make your variation by changing the characters, time and place (setting); but don’t change the patterns and plot.

5. Find a picture of a prairie.

6. This version of Little Red Riding Hood changes the setting to the prairie. Read one of the other versions with a Cajun, Southwest, or China setting. Create a version with a setting specific to an area near where you live, such as ski slope, beach, city park.
   • Artell, Mike and Harris, Jim. (2001). Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood. Dial.
   • Lowell, Susan and Cecil, Rndy. (1997). Little Red Cowbuy Hat. Holt.
   • Young, Ed, translator and illustrator. (1989). Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China. NY: Philomel Books.
   
   
7. Jessica Houhami retells a traditional story from Southern Asia in No Dinner. An old woman is on her way to visit her granddaughter when a wolf jumps out to eat her, followed by a tiger and a bear. But the brave old woman and her clever granddaughter outwit the animals. See if your library-teacher can get this book for you. If you can’t find it, make up a story using these characters.

8. Look at the ways various illustrators have imagined Little Red Riding Hood. Which do you like the best? Why?

9. (older students) Read the History of Little Red Riding Hood. What years did Charles Perrault live? What years did Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm live?

10. Compare the Red Riding Hood story as told by the Brothers Grimm with the story as told by Charles Perrault.
    Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm
    • Little Red Cap Little Red Cap (A German Tale). from Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. Household Tales. Margaret Hunt, translator. London: George Bell, 1884.
    Perrault, Charles
    • Little Red Riding Hood (French). from Lang, Andrew, ed. "Little Red Riding Hood." The Blue Fairy Book. New York: Dover, 1965. (Original published 1889.) Lang’s source: Charles Perrault, Histoires ou contes du temps passé, avec des moralités: Contes de ma mère l’Oye (Paris, 1697).

About the Author

• Lisa Campbell Ernst Oklahoma Connection, includes link to author comments.

Related books

• Nancy Keane’ s list of Feminist Fairy Tales

• Fractured Fairy Tales and Fairy Tale Variants; list from the Calico Rock Elementary Library Media Center

• Fractured Fairy Tales Booklist (pdf) from read-write-think website

• Betsy Fraser’s Fractured Fairy Tales list ends with a sub-section of adult level versions

• Fun Fairy Tale Adaptations Booklist from the Kansas City, Kansas Public Library

• Modern Variants of Traditional Fantasy lists picture books and novels

• Fractured Fairy Tales and Alternate Versions of Our Favorite Stories. from Dayton Public Library

More for the teacher

• Scholastic’s Activity Guides for Fractured Fairytales and Fables doesn’t use Little Red Riding Hood, but The True Story of the Three Little Pigs would be a good extension of this study of Ernst’s book.

• In this Traditional Literature Assignment, Ernst’s book is compared with the traditional story as retold and illustrated by James Marshall.
  Marshall, J. (1987). Little Red Riding Hood. Dial Books for Young Readers

• Both the BeeHive and Nancy Keane have a good booktalk for sparking interest to read the book.

• Economics Posters. Ernst’s book is one of the resources used in this economics unit; from Kings Park Elementary, VA

• ...if you’re a University of Oklahoma football fan

Links to other online guides for Little Red Riding Hood: A New Fangled Prairie Tale

Assessment

Little Red Riding Hood: A New Fangled Prairie Tale.
Accelerated Reader: Quiz #18240 EN; Book Level 4.2; Points= 0.5
Reading Counts: Points= 2.0
Lexile Level 589

Other related books:

• Goldilocks Returns by Ernst, Lisa. AR Quiz #43489 EN; Book Level 3.8; Points= 0.5
• No Dinner by Souhami, Jessico. AR Quiz #2849 EN; Book Level 2.9; Points= 0.5