Gina Kaminski Saves the Wolf  

 

Craig Barr Green, illus Francis Martin
Little Tiger Books
Age 5-7 years

When Gina Kaminsky’s support worker reads her the story of Little Red Riding Hood, she thinks the ending is awful and the girl and the wolf made some big mistakes. She decides to visit fairy tale land and fix them.

This is an amusing take on a familiar story with a determined, resourceful and very appealing heroine. There are three problems to solve, three items to pack and three messages for Granny, echoing the patterns in many familiar traditional tales.

This story offers an interesting insight into children with neurodivergence suggesting their ways of looking at the world could enable them to find different ways to solve problems and become the hero. The illustrations perfectly match the text, and the use of emoticons helps readers see how Gina uses this coping strategy.

Watch the story read aloud – from Miss Lovey

Share the story

Before reading the book
Talk to your child about the story of Little Red Riding Hood and retell it together.

Read aloud
There is a big emphasis on lists of three in the book so while reading you could point these out to your child.

Join in
 Once your child is familiar with the story encourage them to join in perhaps with Gina’s lists, the words in bold print or conversations with characters in the story.

Talk about the story
◼︎Talk about how Gina feels at the beginning of the story and what makes her feel that way. Do you or your child ever feel like that?

◼︎ Look at the emojis on the end papers and talk about what they mean.

◼︎ Talk about what Gina takes into fairy tale land and discuss with your child what they would take

◼︎ Discuss the ending of the story and what your child thinks about Gina ‘fixing ‘the mistakes she sees in the story and saving the wolf.

Things to make and do

Play the story
*Make a wolf mask. Re-enact the story using soft toys, fabric and the mask as props, let your child use their own ideas to develop the story.

Draw a map
Draw a map of the places Gina visits in fairy tale land.

Make a book
Talk about the versions of Little Red Riding Hood story your child knows and ways the story might end. Make up a new version of the story together and make it into a zig zag book. You could help by scribing for your child if they are not yet confident writers with your child illustrating.

Make your own emoji chart
Give your child a sheet of paper with a set of circles drawn onto it and suggest that they draw their own set of emojis to illustrate feelings.

Find out more

Find out more about Craig Barr Green

Read another book about Gina Kaminski – Gina Kaminski Rescues the Giant

Visit the library and look for other versions of the Red Riding Hood story.

See our activity page for Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion

Talk about things that are the same and things that are different in the various versions.

See also:

Wolves

Thank you to Joan Thurgar for her contributions to the activity ideas.