Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood

I really loved this one! I read this for Middle-Grade Madness, Fairy Tale readathon, and I enjoyed it! It was just such a sweet and beautiful retelling of Red Riding Hood, with a mix of Beauty and the Beast and even Snow White, cool. But of course, those stories weren't the same as in the original, they had some twists, and they're said to have taken place a long time ago. I found the focus on death, and not being afraid of yourself and your power very important and I really appreciated it! Also Red was such an interesting MC, including her hot temper and her grumpiness which she apparently took from her granny, lol. But Goldie was definitely my favorite, she had guts, was sweet, loving, and loyal, I mean she was also kind of annoying to Red at first but then she just grew on Red and they became inseparable... Also, it was Red's fault that she was annoyed by her, I mean she was being nice and kind from the beginning. I love friendships in books that actually develop, not just ‘they're friends from childhood, bla bla bla. The twist in the huntsman, and the wolf was just perfect! I loved how it portrays empathy, and how people just judge people from their apearance, or in Red's case because they have magic and are witches. Yeah, forgot to mention. Red is a witch in this version, dope. Also, one important point was how humans are afraid to die and seek immortality, and the side effects of it, pretty important stuff. It was a short and very sweet read. I loved imagining myself in this beautiful and weird forest, also I loved that it isn't heavy on it, and it just comes naturally. I love fantasy books that can do that, not just force magic into it. So yeah, I highly recommend!

A middle grade retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.
There was a lot of mentions to other fairy tales. I liked the journey that Red took, her interactions with other characters and their stories.
I didn't like the reason she was making the journey and her denial about death. She goes on a journey to look for a way to make her grandma not die, but she leaves her alone while she is sick and spends days away. Which to me makes no sense, if she was really worried her sickness she wouldn't go away and leaver the grandma alone, possible diying while she was away.

If this was not a middle grade the grandma problably would have died before she came back or soon after she came.