Lon Po Po

Last updated
Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China
Lon po po.jpg
Author Ed Young
IllustratorEd Young
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Children's picture book
Set inChina
Publisher Philomel
Publication date
November 1989
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages32 (first edition, hardback)
ISBN 978-0-399-21619-0
OCLC 17981442
398.2/0951 E 19
LC Class PZ8.1.Y84 Lo 1989

Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China is a children's picture book translated and illustrated by Ed Young. It was published by Philomel (Penguin Young Readers Group) in 1989 and won the 1990 Caldecott Medal for distinguished American illustrated books for children.

Contents

Description

The story is a Chinese version of the popular children's fable "Little Red Riding Hood" as retold by Young. Contrary to the original fable, in which there is only one child (Little Red Riding Hood) who interacts with the nemesis of the story (the wolf), Lon Po Po has three children, and the story is told from their perspective. The majority of the illustrations are divided into three pictures for each two-page spread (with a few exceptions). Young uses dark colors for the illustrations to set the tone of the story.

Synopsis

The story is set in China. Three sisters, Shang, Tao and Paotze, are left alone overnight while their mother goes to visit their grandmother Po Po's house for her birthday (and to stay over at her mother Po Po's house for the night). Before leaving, the mother warns the girls to be safe. Meanwhile, an old wolf sees the mother leave and decides to come over to harm the children. The wolf pretends to be their grandmother, Po Po, to try to gain entry. The children question the wolf through the door and ask why he has come late. The wolf has clever answers. The two youngest children finally open the door and let the wolf in. Because of the darkness, the children can't see that it is a wolf. When it is time for bed, the children and the wolf are to sleep together. The children notice "Po Po's" wolflike characteristics. They question him. Finally, Shang (the oldest) lights a candle and, before it gets blown out, sees that Po Po is really a wolf. She devises a plan to get herself and her sisters out of the house. She tells the wolf about the delicious, magical gingko nuts that grow on the tree outside their home. The children go out and climb the tree where she tells the other two who Po Po really is, while the wolf follows. They tell the wolf to get a rope and a basket so they can pull him up the tree to get the nuts, all the while planning on dropping the wolf once in the basket. When they drop the basket, the wolf bumps his head. On the third time as the wolf reaches for the nuts, the kids let go of the rope, sending the wolf plummeting once more, killing him. After the third and final fall, the wolf not only bumped his head, but he also broke into pieces. They check to see (and ask him) if he is OK. But they hear no answer (as he is now dead). That night, the girls look at the wolf's dead body. Finally, they go inside the house to bed. After the mother's return, the next day they tell her what happened.

Audiobook

Young's version was made into a critically acclaimed audiobook that was released in 2006. It was made into a 12-minute-long audiobook and colored video and DVD by Weston Woods Studios. It is narrated by actor B. D. Wong.

Critical response

Lon Po Po has been critically acclaimed. Barbara Auerbach of the School Library Journal wrote "The shadows and cautious, frightened faces coupled with the narrator's expressive storytelling will leave viewers on the edge of their seats" [1] Heather McNeil (Horn Book Magazine): "This production brings new life to an old favorite." [2]

The text possess that matter of fact veracity that characterizes the best fairy tales... The water color and pastel pictures are remarkable...Overall, this is an outstanding achievement that will be pored over again and again....

—John Philbrook, San Francisco Pub. Lib. (School Library Journal) [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Three Little Pigs</span> Fairy tale

"The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build their houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which are made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's house that is made of bricks. The printed versions of this fable date back to the 1840s, but the story is thought to be much older. The earliest version takes place in Dartmoor with three pixies and a fox before its best known version appears in English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs in 1890, with Jacobs crediting James Halliwell-Phillipps as the source. In 1886, Halliwell-Phillipps had published his version of the story, in the fifth edition of his Nursery Rhymes of England, and it included, for the first time in print, the now-standard phrases "not by the hair of my chiny chin chin" and "I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Bad Wolf</span> Fairy tale character

The Big Bad Wolf is a fictional wolf appearing in several cautionary tales, including some of Grimms' Fairy Tales. Versions of this character have appeared in numerous works, and it has become a generic archetype of a menacing predatory antagonist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Red Riding Hood</span> European fairy tale

Little Red Riding Hood is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a sly wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European folk tales. The two best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Boy Who Cried Wolf</span> Aesops fable

The Boy Who Cried Wolf is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 210 in the Perry Index. From it is derived the English idiom "to cry wolf", defined as "to give a false alarm" in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable and glossed by the Oxford English Dictionary as meaning to make false claims, with the result that subsequent true claims are disbelieved.

<i>Red Hot Riding Hood</i> 1943 American animated short film directed by Tex Avery

Red Hot Riding Hood is an animated cartoon short subject, directed by Tex Avery and released with the movie Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case on May 8, 1943, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1994, it was voted number 7 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field, making it the highest ranked MGM cartoon on the list. It is one of Avery's most popular cartoons, inspiring several of his own "sequel" shorts as well as influencing other cartoons and feature films for years afterward.

<i>Little Red Riding Hood</i> (1997 film) American film

Little Red Riding Hood is a 1997 black and white short film based on the traditional children's fairytale Little Red Riding Hood. Written and directed by David Kaplan, it features Christina Ricci in the title role and Quentin Crisp as the narrator. The short film has influences from "The Story of the Grandmother".

<i>Little Red Riding Hood</i> (opera) Opera-fairytale for children in two acts by César Cui

Little Red Riding Hood is a fairy-tale opera for children in two acts by César Cui, composed in 1911. The libretto was written by Marina Stanislavona Pol', based on Charles Perrault's fairytale of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Young (illustrator)</span> Chinese-born American childrens illustrator (1931–2023)

Ed Tse-chun Young was a Chinese-born American illustrator and writer of children's picture books. He has received many awards and recognitions, including the Caldecott Medal and Lifetime Achievement awards for his contributions as a children's illustrator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats</span> German fairy tale

"The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats" is a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimm's Fairy Tales. It is of Aarne-Thompson type 123 "The Wolf and the Kids".

Boy Blue (<i>Fables</i>) Comics character

Boy Blue is a major character in the Vertigo comic book series Fables. He is based on the nursery rhyme character Little Boy Blue. At the beginning of the series, he is portrayed as an efficient but meek office clerk helping Snow White run Fabletown; however, he has a colorful and violent history that is gradually revealed as the series goes on.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adaptations of Little Red Riding Hood</span>

The Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale has often been adapted, and into a wide variety of media.

<i>Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated</i>

Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated is a 1940 book by James Thurber. Thurber updates some old fables and creates some new ones of his own. Notably there is 'The Bear Who Could Take It Or Leave It Alone' about a bear who lapses into alcoholism before sobering up and going too far that way. Also an updated version of 'Little Red Riding Hood' which ends with the immortal lines, "even in a nightcap a wolf does not look any more like your grandmother than the Metro-Goldwyn lion looks like Calvin Coolidge. So the little girl took an automatic out of her basket and shot the wolf dead. " All the fables have one-line morals. The moral of 'Little Red Riding Hood' is "Young girls are not so easy to fool these days." Another fable concerns a non-materialist chipmunk who likes to arrange nuts in pretty patterns rather than just piling up as many as he can. He is constantly nagged by his chipmunk wife for this.

<i>Red Riding Hood</i> (1989 film) 1987 film

Red Riding Hood is a 1989 American/Israeli fantasy film by Golan-Globus based on the fairy tale of the same name and part of the film series Cannon Movie Tales. The taglines were: "CANNON MOVIE TALES: Lavish, feature-length new versions of the world's best-loved storybook classics!" and "Rediscover the magic".

"The Wolf of Zhongshan" is a popular Chinese tale that deals with the ingratitude of a creature after being saved. The first print of the story is found in the Ming-dynasty Ocean Stories of Past and Present published in 1544. The story is commonly attributed to Ma Zhongxi (1446–1512).

Grandma's Pet is an animated short film by Walter Lantz Productions and is part of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series. It is the 53rd Lantz Oswald cartoon and the 106th cartoon overall.

<i>The Land of Stories</i> Book series by Chris Colfer

The Land of Stories is a series of children's fiction, adventure and fantasy books written by American author, actor and singer Chris Colfer. The first book, The Wishing Spell, was released on July 17, 2012. The sixth book was published in July 2017. Colfer revealed plans for a prequel series in 2016, and has since published three books in this prequel series beginning with A Tale of Magic... in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Fox and the Weasel</span> Aesops fable

The Fox and the Weasel is a title used to cover a complex of fables in which a number of other animals figure in a story with the same basic situation involving the unfortunate effects of greed. Of Greek origin, it is counted as one of Aesop's Fables and is numbered 24 in the Perry Index.

<i>Revolting Rhymes</i> (film) 2016 British animated television film

Revolting Rhymes is a 2016 British computer-animated fantasy comedy drama television film written for the screen and directed by Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer, based on the 1982 book of the same name written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake.

<i>The Bears Tale</i> 1940 animated short film by Tex Avery

The Bear's Tale is a 1940 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated cartoon short, directed by Tex Avery. The short was released on April 13, 1940, and stars the Three Bears.

<i>Wolf in the Snow</i> 2017 wordless picture book

Wolf in the Snow is a 2017 wordless picture book by Matthew Cordell. The book was favorably received by critics and won the 2018 Caldecott Medal. The story has drawn comparisons to fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood. The nearly wordless book tells the story of a girl and wolf who each get lost in the snowstorm. Cordell used distinctive illustration techniques for the girl and the wolf.

References

  1. Auerbach, Barbara. "Lon Po Po". School Library Journal 52.8 (2006): 49–50. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
  2. McNeil, Heather. "Lon Po Po". Horn Book Magazine (2007): 304. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
  3. "Lon Po Po (Book)". School Library Journal 35.16 (1989): 97. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
Awards
Preceded by Caldecott Medal recipient
1990
Succeeded by