Sue Heap

I read this story several times to a 2-1/2 year old. He wasn't familiar with the original tale, so some of the twists (e.g. the wolf being so amiable; a modern, active Grandma) obviously didn't mean anything and any irony was lost. Which led me to wonder, what audience did the author have in mind? Perhaps even more importantly, is this amusing-to-adults spin "A Good Idea"? I'm of the mindset that fairy tales were originally fables of warning and life's lessons, so don't please cutesy up a show more wolf or a fox. McKinley's 'Spindle's End' is a fine example of a reworked fairy tale that is much more effective and does not lead the reader into error. Having criticized the story, my young audience enjoyed the book and the illustrations were captivating. show less

It's very cutesy as we're given a very young version of Red Riding Hood who acts and speaks very much like a four-year-old (or thereabouts). I enjoyed the repetition and flow of the words as I read it aloud and got a kick out of the sweet innocence of this twist of the traditional story.

Red Riding Hood is not just little, she is very little and she is headed to her grandmother’s house for a sleepover! Along the way she runs into none other than the wolf, but Red will let nobody get in the way of visiting her grandmother. Very Little Red Riding Hood takes the classic story we all know and gives it an adorable, lovable twist.

The idea behind Very Little Red Riding Hood is super cute but I wish it had been executed a little better. I love that Wolf is unable to resist the show more charm of Red and becomes her friend but I had some issues with the dialogue. Red’s toddler-speak, while accurate, is not a good way to teach children how to speak and read. Picture books are supposed to help children learn and develop their literacy skills and using words like ‘lello’ instead of the proper word, ‘yellow’, does not do much to encourage a toddler to speak properly.
The illustrations of Very Little Red Riding Hood, in my opinion, are what carried the story. They were simple but effective in giving the story life with it’s old–school feel. Overall, Very Little Red Riding Hood was enjoyable and despite the issues I had with it show less

A book of colours, written by Sue Heap and illustrated by Nick Sharratt. The story is about a boy called Nick, and a girl called Sue. It repeats the sentence structure 'Nick likes ...'/ 'Sue likes ...', using different colours to describe Nick and Sue's favourite things. The illustrations are bold, striking and fun. I particularly like the way colours are incorporated into the story, in a more natural manner than lots of other books about colour. It's simple, but far from dull.
Highly show more recommended by me, and by a three year old boy of my acquaintance. This is his favourite book. We like Nick. We like Sue. show less