Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story From China

Lon Po Po won the Caldecott Medal in 1990. The author, Ed Young, recreates a Chinese spin to a favorite children's fair tale - Little Red Riding Hood. In this version, a wolf has a deceiving plan to eat three sisters who have been left alone by their mother, who is off to visit the children's grandmother. The wolf pretends to be the children's grandmother and they let the wolf into their home. The eldest child, Shang, discovers that a wolf has been trying to deceive them. She has a plan to lure him outside and after several attempts the children kill the wolf by beating him at his own game. Ed Young is not only the author, but also the illustrator. The pictures are vivid and seem to be done in either charcoal or watercolor. The illustrations are in panels in the pages of the picture book, which makes it unique. This is an excellent book to use with Little Red Riding Hood to teach a compare and contrast lesson.

Young, Ed (1989). Lon Po Po. New York: Philomel Books.