review

LON PO PO: A RED-RIDING HOOD STORY FROM CHINA – ED YOUNG

By karen t. brissette

Posted on February 27, 2016

Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young
My rating: 4/5 cats
One Star

the origins of the little red riding hood story are unclear, but they can be traced to well before the 17th century perrault interpretation most familiar to western readers. earlier versions of the tale have turned up in other parts of europe, in africa, asia, and the middle east. in some of the stories, the children are eaten, in some they escape, in some they are eaten and still escape, sometimes the antagonist is a tiger, a fox, a hyena…

this book is presenting itself as A Red-Riding Hood Story From China, but it’s actually closer to one of riding hood’s splinter tales—either “The Wolf and the Kids” or “The Tiger Grandmother” in which the threat is invited in; where a predator disguised as a family member tricks its way into the house by bamboozling a trusting child or children, as opposed to gaining access to the house first, and then awaiting the child’s visit cleverly disguised as a loved one.

this distinction is only interesting or important to fairy-tale scholars or people like me who tend to overthink picture books. for the rest of you, all you need to know is that this book won the caldecott medal, has really haunting illustrations, in part because of their “misty” quality, and definitely made me sympathize with the wolf.

this version is set in china, where three young children are left at home while their mother goes off to visit their grandmother to bring her birthday cheer. apparently, children are not part of birthday cheer. as she leaves, she instructs them:

“Be good while I am away, my heart-loving children; I will not return tonight. Remember to close the door tight at sunset and latch it well.”

but a locked door won’t stop a clever wolf from approaching the house late that evening, disguised as their po po—the very woman their mother had gone to meet. and after using his verbal sparring skills to deflect a series of questions similar to the “what big eyes you have” portion of the red riding hood tale, the wolf ends up snuggled tight in bed with the three girls, eagerly anticipating this easy meal, until he handles the second round of inquisitive tales less adroitly:

When Shang stretched, she touched the wolf’s tail. “Po Po, Po Po, your foot has a bush on it.”

“Po Po has brought hemp strings to weave you a basket,” the wolf said.

Shang touched grandmother’s sharp claws. “Po Po, Po Po, your hand has thorns on it.”

“Po Po has brought you an awl to make shoes for you,” the wolf said.

and the girls clock that this furry beast is not, in fact, their po po.

too clever to let on that they’ve seen through his ruse, the children spontaneously devise an elaborate scheme to escape the house and punish the wolf that’s got some br’er rabbit/aesop trickery to it, but ends more horribly. View Spoiler »