Cloaked in Red in Into the Forest

Feb 11, 2011 Mir rated it it was ok

Shelves: fairy-tale, short-stories, younger

This book got my back up from the start, by opening with an introduction that made fun of the Red Riding Hood story in particularly lame and stupid ways. First of all, don't try to be funny if you don't know how (thinking about the VVV books I've read, humor is a weak point for her). Second, isn't it some kind of party foul to make fun of the very thing you are ripping off to sell your not-very-good short stories? Because most of the stories here were pretty weak. The couple that were better rea ...more

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Nov 13, 2010 Cara rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, 2010, fairy-tales

Have you ever thought that the story of Little Red Riding Hood was kind of lame? If so this is the book for you.

The author in the beginning gives an introduction of why she felt the need to give this fairy tale it's due. To be honest I always thought the story was boring and definitely left a lot to be desired. Here we have a collection of stories that give a new take to Little Red. The stories range from a creepy doll coming to life, all the way to a red cloak having a mind of it's own. Some ...more

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Feb 22, 2015 Danielle The Book Huntress rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library-checkout, short-story-collection, 2015-challenge-factory-challenge, middle-grade-juvenile, audiobook, 2015-cover-to-cover-challenge, fairy-tale-theme, young-adult

Quite honestly, I liked the idea of this collection more than I liked the stories. I did appreciate the humor and the fact that Velde did address the issues she'd always had with the Little Red Ridinghood story in its varied incarnations. I actually agree with her on many points. However, I think a few of the stories took a bit too much of a left turn. One even goes into a direction that makes the Woodsman into a foil who complicates the storylines of several other fairy tale protagonists. Cleve ...more

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Nov 01, 2014 Melanti rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, fairy-tales-folklore-and-mythology, e-book, ku-borrowed, audiobook, 2014, anthology

In regards to the introduction - I just don't get how someone who likes fairy tales enough to do retellings, would criticize fairy tale logic and expect them to conform to modern story-telling standards.

And though her main criticism is that the original tales are illogical and silly, her stories are more than a little silly themselves. There's this old aphorism about glass houses and stones. I wonder if Velde has ever heard it?

(This actually isn't terrible, I just couldn't resist poking fun a b ...more

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Jul 08, 2011 Jenna rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, retelling, short-stories-collection, retelling-fairy-tale

This collection was a lot of fun. Vivian Vande Velde retells the story of "Little Red Riding Hood" eight different times in eight different ways. These stories range from the amusing to the even more amusing. ...more

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