Fans of Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted or Princess Tales series know Levine is one author who can always create original (and often hilarious) versions of fairy tales, whether she’s reinterpreting the Cinderella story, legend of Sleeping Beauty, or Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Princess and the Pea.”
Now, younger readers can also enjoy Levine’s fractured fairy tales in her read aloud picture books, which provide new comic versions of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” and “Little Red Riding Hood.”
Betsy Who Cried Wolf!
Eight-year-old shepherdess Betsy knows she can be the best shepherd in Bray Valley – even if her chatty sheep keep jumping into rivers and repelling down mountains. But Betsy never counted on meeting Zimmo, a hungry wolf with a Plan!
When Zimmo gets the bright idea to scare Betsy’s sheep and then hide when the farmers come, Betsy quickly gains a reputation as the “Girl Who Cried Wolf” – which keeps the farmers away when Zimmo really goes after the sheep. With no help coming, can Betsy keep the sheep safe all by herself?
In her first picture book, Levine proves she’s equally adept at writing for early elementary school audiences as she is for middle graders. While the book’s text is sparse, Levine keeps the laughs coming by giving Betsy’s smart alec sheep plenty of funny one-liners as they mistake Zimmo for a dog and debate about the moral to the story.
Like all good picture books, though, it’s the art that will make this book a real favorite. Artist Scott Nash loads the pages with sight gags of Betsy’s sheep as they climb trees and pretend to be shepherds. Sharp-eyed readers will also spot a lot of verbal puns (Betsy’s town has a “Pies for Ewe” bakery and the sheep cross the “Soakenwetz River”). Overall it’s a fun fractured fairy tale that will get more than a few repeat readings during storytime.
Betsy Red Hoodie
Shepherdess Betsy and her smart-mouthed sheep are back – and this time they’re going to Grandma’s house!
When Betsy’s mother asks Betsy to take some cupcakes to Grandma, Betsy and her sheep are all set for a fun road trip. But when Betsy’s wolf friend Zimmo invites himself along, Betsy gets nervous. Sure, Zimmo’s never hurt anyone in his life, but can he be trusted around Grandma?
Still everything seems all right – until Zimmo ditches the group and runs into the woods by himself. Is he trying to get to Grandma’s before Betsy? What is he planning on doing? Betsy and her sheep had better hurry if they want to keep another unfortunate fairy tale from repeating itself!
A sequel to Betsy Who Cried Wolf, Levine and Nash’s second picture book contains the same zany sense of humor of its predecessor. As with the first book, the sheep steal the show as they fill the pages with their chatter – comparing wolves to grandmothers and offering their ideas on the story’s moral.
Nash’s illustrations are also more detailed this time, as he draws the sheep with hats and musical instruments, which makes it easier to pick out certain sheep (particularly one trouble-making lamb with a baseball cap who’s constantly misbehaving in the background).
Hopefully not the last book in what looks like another fun fractured fairy tale series from Levine, Betsy Red Hoodie offers a clever mix of visual and verbal humor that makes it a great choice for teachers and librarians to read aloud during storytime.
Find more fun fractured fairy tales and storytelling books for young readers at Great Children’s Audio Books: The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Unusual Princess Picture Books for Younger Kids, and Funny Animal Picture Books.
Levine, Gail Carson and Scott Nash. Betsy Red Hoodie. New York: HarperCollins Children’s Books/HarperCollins Publishers. 2010. ISBN: 978-0-06-146870-4
Levine, Gail Carson and Scott Nash. Betsy Who Cried Wolf!. New York: Trophy/HarperCollins Publishers. 2002. ISBN: 978-0-06-443640-3
Michael Jung - Michael Jung is a professional writer, children’s literature specialist, and online book dealer whose articles, reviews, interviews, ...
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