Summary

One night Herb’s mother leaves the Little Red Riding Hood book in his room after the bedtime story. When he is almost asleep, Herb hears a strange sound, turns on the lamp and finds the storybook wolves want to gobble him up. He almost outwits them, but the wicked fairy spoils his plan. Just in time, Herb shakes the Fairy Godmother out of the book and she takes care of the wolves with her magic.

Activities

1. Lauren Child makes collages using cut paper and fabric. Collect some interesting papers and fabrics to make your own collage.

2. Why do you think Lauren Child shows the wolves dressed in white shirt and tie?

3. What is an appetizer? What appetizer would you like at a birthday party?

4. Where else have you heard toes described as piglets?

5. Younger student: Read about the red wolf. Click on the link to read about the gray wolf. Do either of these live in the area where you live?
   Older student: Research facts about wolves in the real world. On an outline map of North America, indicate the range of the red wolf, gray wolf and timber wolf.

6. List five fairy tales that are referred to in the book. You can read them all online. Choose another fairy tale. Add a situation or character from it to this story.

7. There are many variations of the Little Red Riding Hood story. But there is no book titled "The Little Fierce Wolf and the Three Pink Piglets." Make four stick puppets of a wolf and three pigs to tell your version of the piglet story.

8. Explain these phrases:
   • lick his chops
   • wolfing him down
   
   
9. The author sometimes uses a twist on a commonly used phrase. What would be the expected way of saying each of these phrases?
   • turn for the really quite bad
   • quick as a quick thing
   • happy-ever-afterly

10. Adapt the story into a Readers’ Theater play.

11. Lauren Child must have enjoyed Herb’s adventure because she wrote a follow-up. Read Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book?

12. Each of the following words is used instead of "said" somewhere in the book. Find each word in the story and tell why it is a good choice to use instead of "said".
• stammered
• triumphed
• shouted
• snarled
• sighed
• screeched

About the Author

• British Council Arts, Lauren Child

• official website of Lauren Child. Much of this attractive site is still "coming", including the actual author bio.

• Candlewick Press bios - Lauren Child; photo

• Dudley Author Spotlight

• Fish fingers and chandeliers

• Jubilee Books illustrator profiles

• Media Release

• Peters Author Profiles

• The Watts Publishing Group. author information

• David Higham Associates - Lauren Child

Awards

• IRA/CBC Choices Booklist, 2002

Related books

• Child, L. (2002). Who’s afraid of the big bad book? London: Hodder Children’s Books. grades k-3

• Child, L. (2006). The Princess and the pea. Hyperion. grades k-5

More for the teacher

• Extend this book study by going on to the Book & Author Literature Study Guide for Little Red Riding Hood: A New Fangled Prairie Tale by Lisa Ernst

• Extend this book study by going on to Scholastic’s Activity Guides for Fractured Fairytales and Fables using The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.

Assessment

Beware of the Storybook Wolves
Accelerated Reader: Quiz #50481 EN; Book Level 4.5; Points= 0.5
Reading Counts: Reading Level 3.6; Points= 2.0
Lexile Level 670
Word count= 1321

Other related books:

• Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book? by Child, Lauren
  AR Quiz #72751 EN; Book Level 4.5; Points= 0.5. Reading Counts Level 4.4; Points 2. Lexile Level 800. Guided Reading Level Q.