Horn Book Review of Betsy Red Hoodie

Betsy Red Hoodie

by Gail Carson Levine;

illus. by Scott Nash

Preschool, Primary Harper/HarperCollins 40 pp.

9/10 978-0-06-146870-4 $16.99

Library ed. 978-0-06-146871-1 $17.89 g

Betsy (see the team's previous Betsy Who Cried Wolf) is still a shepherd; Zimmo, her partner in watching the sheep, is still a wolf, though in his vest and trousers, he looks more like a benevolent uncle. Even so, when Betsy takes cupcakes to Grandma, she at first tells him to stay home ("Wolves aren't good for grandmas") before relenting ("Betsy thought about it. Zimmo had never hurt a person or a sheep"). And the sheep are coming, too ("They'll enjoy the walk"). So they all set out, ignoring the warnings of a farmer and hunter, gathering daisies, trying to keep track of ten sheep whose speech-bubble chatter includes amusingly altered bits of the old story (Grandmas "are long in the tooth, the better to chew," while wolves "have long teeth. They look a lot like grandmas!"). Presently Zimmo scoots ahead, leaving Betsy to struggle with the increasingly rowdy herd and wonder about his intentions. But all ends happily, with a swift segue to another classic conclusion: a surprise birthday party for Betsy at Grandma's. Nash stages the shenanigans in an attractive country landscape, supporting Levine's light tone with comical pen drawings of the round-faced, energetic Betsy in the eponymous hoodie and the ten wayward sheep, differentiated by their headgear and other paraphernalia. Good read-aloud fun. JOANNA RUDGE LONG