Included a story CD with narration by Imelda Staunton, so I opted to listen whilst looking at the illustrations. I haven't listened to a story in probably 30 years and it was wonderful! Staunton's voice was a perfect match for this tale and she made the story jump off the page, especially when the wolf swallows LRRH!

The artwork, on the other hand, was too modern for my tastes, a bit sharp. The illustrations looked like late spring, early summer but they felt cold, almost sterile. Despite my reaction to the pictures as a whole, I will say that the wolf's mouth was quite terrifying - almost like a shark's - which enhanced the fear factor during the scene where the wolf gulps down LRRH.

In this version, it's a young huntsman who rescues them, and LRRH drops in seven stones prior to sewing up the wolf's belly. Upon waking, the wolf has an unquenchable thirst, and as he bends over to drink from the river, he falls in and drowns.

3.5 stars ( )

Scots children's author Lari Don, who is probably best known for her First Aid for Fairies fantasy series for older children, turns here to the work of the Brothers Grimm, retelling that classic fairy-tale of a little girl on her way to her grandmother's cottage in the woods, and the big bad wolf she meets along the way. Although no source material is included, it is clear from the ending (in which Granny and Little Red Riding Hood are rescued by a passing woodsman) that this is the Grimm version, rather than the earlier variant written by Charles Perrault, which contained no such rescue. The illustrations in this retelling are done by French artist Célia Chauffrey, who also worked on the recently translated picture-book Peter and the Moon, while the accompanying CD contains a narration of the story done by actress Imelda Staunton.

I enjoyed this retelling of the classic fairy-tale of Little Red Riding Hood quite a bit, finding the text itself quiet engaging - I appreciated the fact that Lari Don used fairly contemporary language, while keeping to the traditional framework of the story - and the artwork appealing. Chauffrey's acrylic and pencil illustrations are quirky and cute, and while I thought her wolf could have been a little more fearsome, I liked the scale she used, in which the wolf towers over Little Red Riding Hood, when they are speaking in the woods. The narration by Imelda Staunton is immensely entertaining, and really added to my enjoyment of the story. I don't usually listen to audio books, or other narrated tales, so this was a particular treat. All in all, a lovely little book, one I would recommend to young fairy-tale lovers everywhere! ( )