Pretty Salma: A Little Red Riding Hood Story from Africa
Kindergarten-Grade 3—Daly's boldly colored illustrations perfectly match this West African incarnation of the classic story. Pretty Salma is sent to the market by her grandmother and told to come straight home, but she takes a shortcut through the wild part of town and encounters Mr. Dog, who tricks her out of her basket, sandals,ntama, scarf, and beads. Mr. Dog scares Salma off and he goes to Granny's house to trick her. Meanwhile, Salma finds her grandfather in his Anansi costume telling stories in the village square and the two of them quickly set off to rescue Granny. The cartoon-style paintings capture the sights and flavor of the setting and add dimension and humorous details to this modern version of a timeless tale. Enjoyable on its own, this story would be especially fun combined with and compared to the many other "Little Red" stories available.—Genevieve Gallagher, Murray Elementary School, Charlottesville, VACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.