School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Children who liked Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith's The Stinky Cheese Man (Viking, 1992) or The True Story of the Three Little Pigs! (Viking, 1989) will find that this fractured fairy tale is right up their alley. As Cat attempts to tell Dog the story of "Little Red Riding Hood," Dog constantly interrupts, asking questions and making comments. Cat snaps even before the wolf arrives and yells, "There's NO kindness ray, NO flying basket, and NO exploding eggs. She's just a sweet little girl with terrible fashion sense on her way to see her Grandmother." And on it goes until Dog's parting question, "Is Grandma still in the closet [hiding]?" At this point, Cat throws the book at him. In all fairness to Dog, Grandma's whereabouts after "Little Red Riding Hood's father arrived and chopped off the wolf's head with an axe!" is not specifically mentioned. The illustrations are simple, yet effective, black-and-white line drawings of Cat and Dog highlighted with color bits, such as the aforementioned axe (no blood), storybook, Red's basket, grandma's bed, etc. There is ample white space, allowing readers to focus on the words. Excellent use is made of bold type and capital letters for emphasis. Placement of text and illustrations varies from page to page, which helps to keep the story moving along. And make sure children don't miss the great comments about the endpapers on, where else, the endpapers. Great fun.-Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this story-about-a-story, the husband-and-wife Foxes (Tyson the Terrible) draw a bossy, teacher-ish cat and an irrepressible pup arguing their way through a reading of Little Red Riding Hood. "Cool! I love stories about superheroes," the pup says, imagining that Little Red Riding Hood's cape is part of a Superman-style outfit. "What's her special power?" "She doesn't have any special powers," says the cat primly. "It's not that kind of a story." But the dog is undeterred. "She's not very bright, is she?" he complains. "I mean, if there were a wolf dressed up as MY Grandma, I might have noticed right away." Simple line drawings a la Sandra Boynton give the animals adorably large snouts and tiny bodies, while lots of white space and props that come and go give the story a theatrical feel, as if the two were doing improv. There's plenty of subversive laughter, and a sly turn at the end when the cat's bloodthirsty account of the climax exposes the dog's tenderer feelings: "Are you absolutely sure this is a children's book?" he asks. Ages 4-8. Agent: Marilyn Malin Consultancy. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
