Lon Po Po

Genre: novel/ realistic fiction Title: Lon Po Po
Author/Illustrator: Young, Ed
Publisher: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 1996
Genre: Picture Book, Traditional Literature, Folk Tale
Grade Level: K-3
Awards: 1990 Randolph Caldecott Medal

Summary: This is the Chinese version of little red riding hood. It starts off with three sisters being left alone in the house because their mother went to see their grandmother, known as Po Po, for her birthday. The wolf dresses up like Po Po, and enters the house. They all lay down for nap when the three girls start noticing that ‘grandma Po Po has long nails and a long furry tail. The oldest sister notices that it is a wolf in disguise and come up with a master plane how to use the Ginkgo tree to kill the wolf. They hoist him up and end up dropping from a height that kills him. They run back inside and lock door and wait for their mother to return to tell her how they defeated the wolf.

Response: I love almost all the traditional literature that everyone was told when they were younger. I was unfamiliar though that other cultures had similar tales, just retold. I really liked this version. The daughters were so clever to use the resources they had around them to defeat the wolf. This was a very cute story. I also really liked how the pictures were displayed. They were panel like pictures that told the story in itself.

Teaching Ideas: This is a great book for comparing and contrasting in literature. You could use the traditional little red riding hood story and this to create Venn diagrams. It is also great while studying other cultures. If I had an older group of students I would see if they could find another familiar traditional tale that was retold in a different culture. And have them share it with the class.