The Red Wolf

by Margaret Shannon

Overview

Roselupin has had quite enough of being locked away in her tower room. Her father the king thinks he needs to protect her from the wild and dangerous world outside, but Roselupin knows better. So when she receives a mysterious gift on her seventh birthday, Roselupin uses it as her ticket out of the tower and into the woods, where she howls and dances all day long—and surprises the kingdom folk right out of their socks. Twice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547562278
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/25/2002
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	25 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Margaret Shannon was born in Adelaide, South Australia, and now lives near Nelson, New Zealand. The setting for The Red Wolf is loosely based on the beautiful fortress town of Loket nad Ohrí in the Czech Republic. After discovering the town in her travels, Margaret Shannon returned to live there for seven months and began developing the illustrations for this book.

Editorial Reviews

A canny seven-year-old princess and a trunkful of knitting wool bring down the house or, more accurately, the castle tower in this cleverly told tale. Locked up by her father to protect her from the dangers of the world, the princess Roselupin knits her magic birthday yarn into a fuzzy red wolf suit. "If the world's too wild for the likes of me,/ Then a BIG RED WOLF I'd rather be," she says. Becoming a red wolf so big she bursts right out of her tower, Roselupin revels in a day (and night) of freedom. But the next morning, in a development explained only in the illustrations, a thread catches on a twig and the princess's suit unravels. Captive again, the imperturbable Roselupin uses more yarn to knit her father "a rather mousy-looking pair of pajamas." The final picture shows a forlorn mouse in a crown gazing out the window as Roselupin runs to join a circle of children in the town square. Shannon's (Gullible's Troubles) antic mixed-media art will have readers howling, too; in one spread, the gargantuan wolf revels in a dazzling selection of baked goods offered by courtiers who seem lilliputian by comparison. The old-world castle town and the dark forest are the stuff of classic fairy tales, but Shannon's sly humor and resourceful heroine are eminently her own. Ages 4-8. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 3-This liberating modern fairy tale with a most inventive heroine celebrates the joy and, indeed, the necessity, of freedom. Like many fairy-tale princesses before her, Roselupin is locked in a tower-in this case, by an overprotective father who deems the world "a wild and dangerous place." On her seventh birthday, a mysterious donor sends a seemingly innocent gift, a golden box full of wool. The enclosed message, "Knit what you want," makes the king laugh, but the resourceful girl uses it to pull the wool over everyone's eyes-literally. As she climbs into her newly knitted red wolf suit, Roselupin calls to mind Maurice Sendak's Max. Indeed, her actions that follow are very much like those of the wild things, as she grows and bursts beyond the confines of the page frames and then revels in eating, dancing, and howling her way through the day. As she sleeps freely under the stars that night, she dreams of dancing with other wolves in a circle. Though her wolf suit unravels, and the misguided king once again locks her up, Roselupin is not out of wool yet. In a very satisfying conclusion, she gives the king a taste of his own medicine and the last glimpse readers have is of her joining the circle of villagers dancing. Shannon's brightly colored illustrations and the creative design and layout enrich this original, delightful tale. A thoroughly enjoyable story of empowerment.-Robin L. Gibson, Perry County District Library, New Lexington, OH Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

An original "princess in a tower" tale with a startling twist. A never-revealed donor gives seven-year-old Roselupin a chest of yarn with the note: "knit what you want." Having spent her entire life in a tall tower, thanks to an overprotective royal father, she takes thought, then knits a red wolf suit that causes her to grow hairy and huge enough to burst through the walls. After celebrating with a wild dance, she sets out to find others like her-not noticing that the costume is unraveling behind her. When the frightened king sends out searchers to discover what became of the monster, they return with the dour princess, who soon finds herself locked into an even stronger tower. Undaunted, she again takes thought, and knits her father "a rather mousy-looking pair of pajamas." Though the scarlet behemoth bounding joyously through ankle-deep woods makes an arresting central image, readers willing to look more closely at Shannon's shadowy, atmospheric paintings will find subtle clues in little Roselupin's face that there's more to her than meets the eye. Though turning her father into a mouse may seem a rather draconian way to win freedom, her tough-mindedness may give children feeling similarly smothered both amusement and vicarious relief. (Picture book. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews

"...a successful exploration of every child's dream of reckless but safe autonomy." The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Shannon's antic mixed-media art will have readers howling...[her] sly humor and resourceful heroine are eminently her own." Publishers Weekly, Starred

"An original "princess in a tower" tale with a startling twist." Kirkus Reviews, Starred

"The illustrations, a lush mix of watercolor, pastel, and colored pencil, at times send shivers down the spine." Horn Book

From the Publisher