Lon Po Po

Young, E. (1989). Lon po po: A red-riding hood story from China. New York, NY: Philomel Books.

Read on June 1, 2012.

Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China, by Ed Young, is a traditional story that takes the shape of a fable. I chose it for two main reasons: it is a Caldecott Award winner (1990) and I love reading books that are compared to another version.

It is similar to the familiar story that we all know and love in that there is a wolf who is pretending to be their grandma (Po Po). The similarities end there.

When three sisters are left home alone, a stranger comes visiting. Their mother has gone to visit Po Po and has instructed the girls that they are to lock the door and not let any strangers in. Tao, Paotze, and Shang have every intention of following their mother's instructions, until their grandma comes knocking at their door. Against their better judgement, they let Po Po in only to discover that she is actually a wolf. There's none of the traditional, "Grandma, what big eyes you have," instead, the children point out things like their Po Po has seemingly grown a bush on her backside. Once the sisters realize what is going on, they are quick to act! They lure the wolf out of the house and play a string of tricks on him until he is climbing a tree. When he falls from the tree, the author notes that the wolf not only broke his head, but also his heart. In a weird way, the author's choice of words has me feeling sorry for the wolf for having to suffer, but then I remember that he was about to eat 3 children and feel sorry no more.

The illustrations in this book are similar to that you might see in a dream. They are not the sharp images that you might see in a book by Chris VanAllsburg, but rather they are flat and simple. This type of art is known as primitive, folk art. The pictures, flat or not, are beautiful and you can tell they've been done with some sort of paintbrush.

To get students engaged in this book, and to illicit student response, I've thought of some activities. The first, and most obvious, would be to compare this book to its multiple versions. Since the story takes place in China, there are some words that could present a challenge to some students, therefore, the students could work together for this activity (Langer, sociocognitive theory). They could also benefit from sharing what they liked about the book compared with others of the same tale, any connections they made while reading, or anything they had difficulty understanding (Chambers, 3 sharings). I can't wait to use this book in my classroom and think of even more activities to get the students actively engaged.