Caldecott Monday: Lon Po Po

[osprey_archer]

Ed Young's Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China won the Caldecott medal when I was young, so it was everywhere in my early years, and it terrified me. Not the story, mind you, I never got to that part - but the cover: all in red, except for the shadowy black wolf with its terrible hypnotic white eyes.

It's probably just as well I never read it, even though the art style is beautiful, because many of the illustrations have that same terrifying effect. Like the bit where the three girls let the wolf into the house, because the wolf has convinced them that he's their grandmother, and the picture is simply the vast black shadow of a wolf splashed across the top of the page with the three girls looking tiny underneath...

I've heard a number of variations on the Red Riding Hood story, and in my recollection Red escapes in the end in all of them - but the illustrations created such a sense of menace that I began to worry this story would buck the trend. Especially as there are three sisters. Doubtless the wolf would be vanquished in the end, but he might still eat one of the sisters first.

(I hope you will not consider it a hopeless spoiler if I reassure you that he doesn't. In fact the sisters defeat him all on their own, no woodcutter in sight to help.)

And the illustrations truly are gorgeous. They never become wholly abstract, but there's definitely something expressionistic about them: lots of intense close-ups on the wolf's face, broad washes of color for the sky or the trees.

The first picture, which shows the mother leaving home to visit the actual grandmother - beneath a golden wash of dawn, with pale purple clouds above, and the ground still black with night, except for the golden gingko tree nestled against the house - well, that's just lovely. And there's a similarly lovely picture at the end of the book, bookending the story to show that peace has been restored.

Comments

[evelyn_b]

I'm glad the little girls escape the wolf this time! These illustrations sound creepy in the best way.

[osprey_archer]

The illustrations are delightful! Probably too scary for my scaredy-cat younger self, but delightful for adults, or children who are made of sterner stuff.

Is that a new icon? I love it.

[evelyn_b]

I've had it for a few weeks, but can't really tell if it's too blurry to use or not.

I bet my sister would love this book. She loves getting creepy-pretty fairytale books for her children (and herself).

[asakiyume]

I loved what you wrote, so I searched on the book title, and there are Youtube videos with people reading it aloud, so I was able to see the pictures. I see what you mean by the sense of menace! And they're beautiful in a way I didn't expect.

[osprey_archer]

Oh! I'm so glad that's a thing that exists! Aren't the pictures gorgeous? They are not quite like any other illustrations that I've seen - just gorgeous.

[littlerhymes]

I had a quick google and gosh this looks so good!

[osprey_archer]

It is! Is it available in Australia?

[littlerhymes]

Hmm, it seems to be something you can order at Australian bookstores? But probably not commonly available.

[osprey_archer]

Gosh, I guess the picture book market might be even more country-specific than the market for other children's books. I remember when I visited NZ we bought a stack of Hairy Maclary books because we found them so charming and had never seen them in the States.

asakiyume found someone reading Lon Po Po on Youtube, so if you want to have a gander at the pictures that's an option.

[littlerhymes]

Imagine my shocked face - a childhood without Hairy Maclary? DEAR GOD.

[osprey_archer]

That was pretty much my reaction when we found them. "HOW DID I SURVIVE SEVENTEEN YEARS OF MY LIFE WITHOUT HAIRY MACLARY?" I wailed (inwardly, as we were in a bookstore and all).