The Last Wolf by Mini Grey

                                                             

 

2018   

This is a green twist on the Little Red Riding Hood story. Red Riding Hood becomes Little Red and wears a red coat, a red and green hunting hat and red boots.  She has the power; she is off to catch a wolf. Mother is not afraid to let her go as there haven’t been any wolves around for a hundred years.  She is allowed to go out alone and is warned not to be late for tea.  She makes her way through the forest and finds the Last Wolf living cosily with the Last Lynx and the Last Bear. The animals reminisce about the time when it was easy to catch food. They help Little Red find her way back home and she and her mother decide that they need to plant more trees to help the animals.

Significantly, the only full double spread shows a picture of a healthy forest with animals running through it. The rest of the book is made up of single spreads, one and a half page spreads and some pages with multiple pictures.  Additional story is shown in the pictures.  The difference between the wilderness and the town is emphasized. Some of the text is blocked off.  As the animals reminisce, pictures are framed by wavy lines to imply dreaming. There is plenty of repetition.

This is a large almost square hardback edition.

The text uses an adult serif font with difficult ‘g’s and ‘a’s.