"Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf" by Roald Dahl

The character of Little Red Riding Hood in Dahl’s version “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf” is bold, independent, and seems to have learned all of her lessons, at least in dealing with wolves, already. Directly following the terrifying threat the wolf, who is about to make her dinner, “the small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.” Little Red is unaffected by the ferocious beast before her. This quote portrays a young girl who does not appear to be afraid of anything. Little Red is also one gigantic step ahead of the poor wolf, who thinks he knows how the story will end; his second meal and the satisfaction of his hunger at last. Little Red has another ending in mind and has prepared herself for such an end. Bringing with her a means of killing the wolf, she intentionally provides the resources she needs to successfully fix her problematic situation. Little Red Riding Hood “whips as pistol from her knickers. She aims it at the creatures head and bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.” Maybe she always carries a pistol with her, but regardless, she is prepared. Little Red seems almost arrogant at the end of the poem, when coming upon another person, immediately states, “Hello, and please note my lovely furry WOLFSKIN COAT.” Blatantly pointing her new coat out in such a way, Little Red is revealing her pride in her accomplishments that were all brought about with no one to help her.

"Ruby" by Michael Emberley

In the beginning of her story, Ruby, the main character of Emberley’s “Ruby,” presents herself as intelligent, naïve, and unprepared for the danger ahead of her. The audience can see the danger in store for Ruby, even before she realizes for herself, as the stranger who saves her smoothly says, “You know…a tender, er, pretty thing like you really shouldn’t be strolling the streets alone…allow me to escort you for the remainder of your journey today.” The audience, with the aid of the illustrations, immediately recognizes the stranger as a cat, the eternal enemy of mice everywhere. In the heart of the story, Ruby finally grasps the utter threat and remembers what she has been taught about strangers just in time. After cleverly making a call to the proper person, Mrs. Mastiff, she uses her resources to fix the situation, knowing she alone is helpless against the threat of the cat. Mrs. Mastiff commends her foreword thinking in phoning her when she says, “It was wise of you to call me instead of your granny.” Through the praise of Mrs. Mastiff, Ruby recognizes that she used her resources to solve the ominous predicament she had found herself in successfully.

My Discussion of Two Little Red Riding Hood Stories

There are numerous versions of the Little Red Riding Hood story circulating today; written anywhere from long ago into our century, but two have captured my attention. “Ruby” by Michael Emberley and “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf” by Roald Dahl are two versions that are strikingly different in plot, scene and time period. Despite their differences, these two stories boast important female characters who share respectable qualities and maintain their own traits that are desirable to young people today. In my next couple of blogs I with share my findings and opinions of these two remarkable tales.

My Thoughts on Writing Now

As a writer, I think that I struggle in formal settings taking out my voice. I tend to type exactly how I think and speak. In a situation when my language needs to be more professional and straight forward, it is difficult for me to create a serious tone because I am not by nature a very serious person. This affects research papers that I have done, and currently my resume writing abilities, which is lacking in this area.

I believe that it is important, as with reading, to make writing fun. If I ask my Kindergarten students to journal, then I will be writing as well to show them that it is a meaningful task that even grown ups write! Of course the earlier you instill this idea of reading and writing for enjoyment into their minds, the more successful they will be in school and the more likely they will continue to read and write and progress throughout their lives. I don’t think that writing is as important as it used to be in our society. Instead of corresponding with ink and beautiful stationary, we send off a quick email, message on Facebook, or send a brief and abbreviated text message to family and friends, which does not seem to have the same nostalgic effect on the recipient. I love receiving cards (the three times throughout the year that I do!) and they always brighten my day and find their way to the refrigerator door before long.

Learning to Write

My favorite time of the day in fourth grade was our journaling time. The classroom would get slightly darker; we would listen to soft music and could think about what to write without any pressure. Sometimes we would be given prompts and other times, were simply told to write about whatever we were thinking.

One frustrating experience I had with writing in school occurred in fifth grade when were learning about poetry. I love poetry and can write a poem if given ample time to do so. But this day we had to rush for some reason and I got so stressed that I was running out of time that I could not even think of a topic! I remember my teacher saying that it was not a big deal, but to me it was. I will make sure that if I want my students to write something meaningful, then I will allot appropriate time to do so!

Again, being an education major, I do a lot of reflecting. Papers like these are a great way for us, taking all of this information in, to slow down and process our thoughts and create our own ideas for the future. As cheesy as that sounds, I enjoy the typical outcome that reflecting causes. I typically feel more confident with the material and have formed my own opinions about the topic. I would love to keep a journal now so that I can remember what I was like in college, but I can’t seem to find the time!

A blurb about my experience of writing in school.

My earliest memories of learning to write in school involve the keeping of a personal journal. At first I began by simply drawing pictures to tell a story, and then I slowly began drawing wavy lines to represent my words. My teacher would give us a sentence starter, a topic to write about, a specific set of words we needed to use in a word bank that were probably spelling words of the week. I also remember this kind of activity being used after we had read a story as a class. In order to be successful at our retelling of the story, my teacher would create a word bank that had key words that would help jog my memory of what occurred in the story. Our spelling words of the week were also related to each other through the special sound of the week. Sometime around first or second grade, I remember a fun activity that used the materials macaroni and cheerios to help us learn! We glued macaroni onto sample sentences where commas needed to go and cheerios where periods belonged!

My earliest memories of writing outside of school take place at home with my oversized crayons and pencils and huge Big Chief Indian Tablet! I would pretend to write my mother’s grocery lists or send notes with my dad to work that said nothing legible! These materials were available for me at home and at school to encourage me to explore writing on paper and drawing. I think that all of this exposure and practice made it easier for me to quickly learn to write.

My reading habits now:

Presently, I read for school and do so at every waking moment I have! Because of the classes I am enrolled in currently, the reading load is intense and almost impossible to keep up with. Luckily, this semester and the last, I have had Children’s Literature courses which allow me to at least partly enjoy the reading that I do! I would love to pick up a book for fun, but I have no time. I would say I’d give up T.V. or Internet time in order to read, but I don’t even have time for those things! I will definitely read once I graduate and get settled into my career because I think it is important to take time to loose yourself in a story and relax. I love American historical fiction, especially around the Civil War, and there are plenty of adventures out there for me to choose from!
I would like to do better as a reader in staying focused on texts that may not be the most interesting, but I must know what it is saying. I find myself quite often at the bottom of a page that I have been reading but have no idea what the text said, although I have decided what to eat for dinner!
I think the most important thing that a teacher can convey to a Kindergartener is that reading is fun and can be accomplished with patience. Once a student feels discouraged, it is difficult to get them motivated to progress with their reading skills. Kindergarten seems to be a great age (the very beginning of their education) to clarify that school, learning, and reading are fun things to know how to do and that they are capable of being successful at all three things.