Little Red Riding Hood - A Kidztory Classic animated interactive storybook Review

Little Red Riding Hood - A Kidztory Classic animated interactive storybook is yet another great classic story brought to life by the developers at Stepworks, here as a universal app. Like their other storybooks, this app has lovely narration included or one can choose to read this book to oneself. Do tap on the characters to hear them make noises and express emotion, as well as look for other interactive hotspots.

I have been fortunate enough to review the classic story of Little Red Riding Hood turned into many a storybook application. This app, about a girl who meets a stranger in the woods looking to do her harm, has a nice modern feel as Little Red is sent by her mother to grandma's house with a basket of oranges to make juice for her ailing grandma.

As with Kidztory’s other apps, the illustrations used are wonderful, colorful, full of interesting textures and a style all their own that is easily recognized. Their classic tales made into storybook apps tend to be faithful to the original tale, but with changes made sometimes to lessen any violence found in the original and making them more child-friendly, as is the case here, since the original Brothers Grimm version the ending of Little Red Riding Hood is a rather dark one. Here, instead of harm coming to any of the characters, the Wolf hides Grandma in a wardrobe. Later, a farmer saves Little Red and Grandma and chase the wolf away.

I would like to acknowledge Stepworks, developers based in Hong Kong, for their decision to make Little Red and her family people of color, something not often seen in applications found in the U.S. iTunes store. Notwithstanding apps made in the Asian market and a few other notable exceptions, it is my experience that most of the characters found in applications today have Caucasian characters used throughout.

There are some apps where one can personalize a character to look like a specific child, some including a nice selection of skin-tone choices, but I am especially fond of seeing Little Red Riding Hood as a person of color, something I find very refreshing as I can not recall another app using a non-Caucasian in this story, or in any classic stories that come to mind. I also like that although subtle, the hair textures used here also ring true, as well as matching the style Kidztory apps are known for.

I really enjoy seeing old faces used throughout these stories. Grandma was first introduced in The Gingerbread Man, and it makes me smile to see a plate of these cookies being served at the end of this story. Later, Grandma and Grandpa, not seen in this book, are featured in The Ugly Duckling as the concerned farmer and wife who take the duckling in and love him for who he is until he is well enough to go back into the wild. I was impressed with the use of these characters previously, and I am further impressed with the choice to make this Little Red a part of the family.

The only missed opportunity here was somehow not including the grandpa, who I know is never part of this story, yet I do so enjoy the tender moment in the Ugly Duckling when Grandpa first finds the duckling half frozen in snow, I wish to somehow see him again in this story, even if it is only to include him in a photo along with the other family photos seen in the background - a nice touch that I enjoy.

Race is never mentioned among these pages, nor should it be. It is simply nice to see some diversity in iTunes, the way I am always on the lookout for dolls of different races or ethnicities for my son, to at least in a small way, have my boy be used to the many possible differences that he will come across in others as he grows older.

I am very excited to see the selection of Kidztory apps by Stepworks grow and grow. I get very excited when I hear of a new one being released, as does my son. I am looking forward to see what other thoughtfully-created storybook apps they come up with next.