Ninja Red Riding Hood by Corey Rosen Schwartz and Dan Santat (Penguin US)

You've previously seen our review of Corey's fabulous "Three Ninja Pigs" so now it's time to dip back into fairy tales and folklore with a martial arts twist with Corey's other kick-butt book, "Ninja Red Riding Hood".

Forget what you know about other adaptations of Red Riding Hood, Corey's doesn't let up from the moment you turn the first page. As with "pigs", Corey gives her story a chopsocky twist by introducing The Wolf, a master of martial arts and discipline who hones his craft at every opportunity. But Grand Master Wolf is hungry, and there's only one way he's going to fill his tum...

And so the training begins...

Wolf hits on a plan to ambush Ninja Red Riding Hood and pit his new found skills against this "weak little girl". Unbeknownst to Master Wolf, Ninja Red Riding Hood is not to be trifled with!

Suspicious looking granny!

Wolf steals into Granny's house and with a few deft moves, soon takes her place. Will Red see through his terrible disguise in time?

You know the rest of the story but you really do need to read this book to see Corey's take on it. As before, though the book is based on martial arts and combat, it's sensitively handled so there's no gross uber-violence or nasty bits, just a rollicking and entertaining twist on a well loved tale - once again peppered with Dan Santat's fabulous art (and Corey's perfect rhymes of course!)

"Ninja Red Riding Hood" is available through Penguin US, and is shortly to appear on UK bookshelves when it's reprinted in Hardback editions very soon! Look out for it, and watch out for long-eared long-toothed martial-artist grannies in the meantime too!

We love this photo of a young "Ninja Red" fan showing off his moves!

Charlotte's best bit: The ultimate showdown between "Granny" and Red!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Sublime action-packed storytelling at its best!

(Kindly sent to us in PDF Format by Corey)