ROALD DAHL´S RHYME: LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD AND THE WOOLF

Subject: DRAMA AND LITTERATURE 
Task: Choosing a rhyme 


LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD AND THE WOOLF




Cover


I´m thrilled by Roald Dahl´s Revolting Rhymes. Just a warning: You have to read it in English; it´s a perfect example of how can sooo much of a text be lost in translation. The language comes directly from fairy stories, the verse is full of music and rythm and the rhyme is both funny and smart.

Though they may be appropiate for kids from 5-6, I think Riding Hood is sort of special. The adaptation of this story is in my point of view so good and powerful that it could compares itself with the traditional "fairly" Red Hood.

I have told my kids both versions and I can tell that they loved it...
In this Rhyme, Red Hood is a modern version of herself. She becames the hunted and the hunter at same time. Therés nothing sweet in the adaptation: Grandmother is swallowed from tipto toe by the wolf, without clothes though (the wolf is no dummy)



The wolf, dressed up with his afternoon snack's clothes


The elements of fairy tale, so important, are still in the story. Red Hood is transmuted into the hunter; the symbolic items are transformed into objects like the pistol. Very interesting turning Red Hood into a kind of western heroine.

Quentin Blake´s illustrations turn the Rhymes into something even bigger; a book that becomes in my opinion a piece of art, that shows a second language through the drawings.



Red Riding Hood with brand new coat. Where did she get it from...?

REFERENCES

The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, Bruno Bettelheim, 1980.