Red Ridin' in the Hood

   This book actually has several different stories within in it, but the one I focused on was the one in the title. Red Ridin' in the Hood is a retold version of the classic tale of little red riding hood. Actually all the tales in this book are classic tales retold with some Latino culture injected into them. For example for this story the girl lives in the city and is taking food to her sick abuela (grandmother). The wolf comes along in a low rider, and the forest she walks through is actually just a bad neighborhood street called Forest Street. I liked how the story still kept to the famous tale, but had a different twist to it.
   There were only two pictures for this story but the illustrations throughout the book look like they are done in pencil and have no added colors. I liked this because the black and white made it seem old like the classic talks, but the actual illustrations were more modern. With a lot of detail to them. In regards to the text I enjoyed how there were Spanish words incorporated throughout the story. Also most of it was dialogue which I think made you form a closer relationship with the characters. This along with the detailed descriptions helped illustrate the book for me as well in my mind.

By patricia santos
Pictures by renato Alacao
Published in 2005