In Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood, Liesl Shurtliff returns to the fairy-tale world she first explored in the award-winning Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin. Now Rump's pal, the strong-minded 12-year-old Red, is on her own quest. Yes, there's a wolf, a huntsman and a granny who needs saving, but the charm of Shurtliff's retelling is how she imbues the storybook tropes with vibrant humanity.
Red's granny, a powerful witch, taught her magic early on, but after growing roses from her nose and other disastrous mistakes, Red has sworn off spell-casting as "unpredictable, finicky, and dangerous." When Granny falls ill, Red gathers her courage and decides to give magic one last try, setting off into the perilous woods to fetch the ingredients for a potion to cure her. Saddled early on with the annoyingly cheerful Goldie (who, not surprisingly, loves porridge), Red can barely contain her exasperation: "Every word she spoke, every little movement she made, was like an itchy bite, and her curls made me dizzy." But the two forge a friendship that carries them through adventures with pixies, dwarves, a mysterious enchantress and more than one intriguing beast. Shurtliff offers up delights like an enchanted path that opens for Red alone as she travels through the woods, and a certain ruby-hued cloak that turns out to be more than just a fashion accessory. The ending is moving and filled with hope, as Red learns that only fear can make magic go awry. --Ann Shaffer, freelance writer and editor