by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 23, 2009

David Roberts is a fashion illustrator from Liverpool, and his sister writes children's stories. Together they've created a hip re-imagining of the tale about Little Red Riding Hood and her brush with the wolf who ate grandma. In Lynn Roberts' version of the story, Grandma's basket of goodies is carried by a boy with black hair. "His name was Thomas," Lynn writes, "but - for some reason - everyone called him Little Red."

But David's pen-and-ink illustrations are slick and comical, like a very stylish cartoon. There's a hint of Charles Addams in their spooky round eyes, and there's grey noir-ish backgrounds that remind me of Edward Gorey. When Red heads into the wood, autumn leaves form an impenetrable cloud of yellow over his head. And an ominous raven looks down from the trees, where a drawing of the wolf hangs over the word "BEWARE."

The wolf himself is seen licking his chops, watching as the boy passes through the blue and shadowy trees. Soon he's carrying Red's jacket in his mouth and has rushed ahead to Grandma's house. All the stylish drawings make the story seem even sillier than usual. Grandma is wearing a fancy purple gown with high white hair like Marie Antoinette. "Come right in, Little Red," she says to the wolf...

The dress billows like a tent as the wolf swallows her down - and the facing page shows only Grandma's shoes were left behind. But it's even funnier when the wolf himself steps into a classy yellow gown. Soon Red is cracking open the door to the dark green room where the wolf is waiting. He makes the obligatory comments about her big eyes, big ears, and big teeth, and the wolf delivers his trademark line.

"All the better to eat you with!"

I have to applaud the book here, because it delivers a new twist in the tale. The boy offers the wolf a jug of ginger ale instead, and "the wolf guzzled down the whole thing...in one greedy gulp." Soon the wolf's belly begins to rumble, and he lets out an enormous belch which spews out grandma! (And she's still wearing her fancy purple gown!) "Ginger ale was a popular colonial drink," insists illustrator David Roberts in a note at the end of the book. It's the funniest piece of the 18th-century motif, which he says also inspired the gowns, powdered faces...and the feeling of suspense. So how does the story end? Red clobbers the wolf with the ginger ale jug, and eventually bribes him with a lifetime supply of ginger ale if he'll stop eating people.

And the last drawing shows the wolf belching in the woods, as Red smiles proudly in the background.

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