Big bad wolf has met his match

Admittedly, this isn't a book my son picked out, nor one that he really wanted me to read to him. However, he WAS motivated that it not only counted toward his summer reading program but also toward his school's reading program for next year. With motivation like that, he could look beyond the rather boring (to him) cover. Besides, it's time he learned that that's hardly the way to judge a book.

I'd never read Lon Po Po myself so was interested to see how much it was based upon the story of Red Riding Hood.

We start out with Mother leaving her three daughters home alone so that she may visit their grandmother on her birthday. She warns the girls that she wouldn't be back that night and that they should be wary and keep the door locked.

Of course there's a wolf in the neighborhood who watches these turn of events and disguising himself as their grandmother, knocks upon the door of the lone children. The eldest, Shang, answers. She's wary of the visitor and questions the wolf as to why she'd visit when their mother has gone for that very reason. The younger two sisters grow impatient with the inquisition and end up letting the wolf in, who stealthily jumps into the home, blowing out the candle so as not to allow them to see his true form.

The wolf pretends to grow tired and crawls into bed, the girls join him still thinking (though skeptically so) that this is their grandmother. A very Red Riding Hood episode ensues, with Shang, the eldest, noticing things about the wolf (it's tail and claws, namely) and expressing innocent enough statements about them "Po Po, your foot has a bush on it" and "Po Po, your hand has thorns on it" with the voice of concern, rather than fear. The wolf gives his excuses which would convince dumber children, but Shang is still wary. She tries to light a candle, the wolf blows it out again, but not before Shang's worry is confirmed as she sees his true form before the light goes out.

Shang, again taking her role as eldest seriously, states to the wolf that he must be hungry, and asks if he's ever eaten gingko nuts. The wolf is clueless and the girl goes on in a clever way to say how good the nuts are. With this enticement, the wolf let's the girls get out of bed to pick nuts for him (since a tree grows outside their door). The girls scurry up, the eldest informs the other two about what she saw and they plot against the wolf with childlike trickery that works.

The girls try three times to pull the wolf up into the tree, each time dropping him until the wolf is indeed dead. They run back to the house, lock it up tight and tell their mother all about what happened when she returned the next day.

My son liked the story and delighted in finding the similarities and differences between this story and that of Little Red Riding Hood. Some differences are, as mentioned above, the inquisition style and questions asked, as well as how, luckily, Grandmother, in this version, never has to deal with the wolf.. she is merely his means of gaining entry into the house.

The illustrations fit the mood of the story very well. They're done in panel style with great use of color in watercolors and pastels. While not holding too much detail, the illustrations use color effectively to draw in the reader, to show just enough emotion on the girl's faces and to show the sinister mood of the story and the wolf's intentions. It's no surprise that it received the Caldecott Medal in 1990.

Children already familiar with Little Red Riding Hood will most likely gain the most from this book and in comparing the two stories. Although it isn't required, as the book stands well enough on it's own merit. Younger children may be upset by the death that occurs, though the illustrations show no violence, not even blood. My son is used to real fairy tales and their often gruesome endings, so the wolf dying in the end wasn't traumatic to him. I'd recommend this book for children 6 and up.