Little Red Riding Hood

“Little Red Riding Hood” is an ebook app based on the classic folk tale. It’s the story of a little girl who finds herself in peril when she encounters a big, bad wolf on her way to visit her grandmother. This application made a strong impression on me for a few different reasons. First, I was shocked to experience this tale again as an adult. I found this “children’s story” as fitting a bedtime story as an R-rated movie: the girl and grandmother are tricked and eaten by a wolf, the huntsman saves them by cutting open then shooting the wolf; later, another wolf tries to eat them, so they set a trap and drown him. Sheesh… maybe I’m in denial, or perhaps I’m still suffering from PTSD after hearing this story as a kid, but I don’t remember it being so graphic and violent. Okay, so enough of my rant… on to my review. There are few positives and a few negatives. The introduction and directions for the app are clearly stated and make navigation easy. The illustrations are beautifully done with a soft and fluid quality, and each page is well-proportioned to the iPhone screen. Unfortunately, the English translation and narration of this story are poorly done. The text and narration are fraught with poor grammar and phrasing – undesirable qualities when teaching kids to read. I did notice that some iTunes user reviews gave high marks to the Chinese translation, so I wonder if the Chinese version is superior.