Red HoodAuthor: Elana K. Arnold
Genre: YA Fantasy/Retellings/Fairy Tales
Release Date: February 25, 2020
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Synopsis:
You are alone in the woods, seen only by the unblinking yellow moon. Your hands are empty. You are nearly naked.
And the wolf is angry.
Since her grandmother became her caretaker when she was four years old,
Bisou Martel has lived a quiet life in a little house in Seattle. She’s
kept mostly to herself. She’s been good. But then comes the night of
homecoming, when she finds herself running for her life over roots and
between trees, a fury of claws and teeth behind her. A wolf attacks.
Bisou fights back. A new moon rises. And with it, questions. About the
blood in Bisou’s past and on her hands as she stumbles home. About
broken boys and vicious wolves. About girls lost in the
woods—frightened, but not alone.
Elana K. Arnold, National Book Award finalist and author of the Printz
Honor book Damsel, returns with a dark, engrossing, blood-drenched tale
of the familiar threats to female power—and one girl’s journey to regain
it.
There were a lot of things that I really liked about the story - the plot, the characters (especially Bisou), the writing style, and so much more. Bisou was a fascinating main character and I really liked getting to know her throughout the book. She's kind of naive and sheltered, mostly at the beginning of the book, but as the story progresses and she is faced with unsettling truths and obstacles, she changes and becomes a strong, self assured, determined, smart, and powerful girl. I liked seeing her change and grow as a character - it almost seemed like the story was a character study of Bisou along with the original genres of the book. The other major characters were well rounded and complex, mostly Meme and James. I liked getting to know them and watch how their relationships with Bisou grow and change during the story.
One big thing for me was the author's writing style. I honestly haven't really read anything like it before. The book is told from Bisou's perspective but the reader experiences the story through her eyes. The reader is referred to as "you" throughout the book but it's clear that Bisou is the main character. It's like a mix between first and second person point of view. I have to admit that it threw me at first, but once I adjusted to the writing style, I really liked it. It was definitely unique and added along with the retelling it creates something original and fresh not just in the YA genre but across a wide span of fiction out there right now.
This is probably going to be a book that people either love or hate with little gray area in between. There are a lot of aspects that make the story really unique - the writing style, very obvious feminist themes, and a few other things. Some readers will really like this and others might not. I personally thought it was a fantastic retelling with a strong female main character, interesting and thought provoking themes, and a really cool writing style. I highly recommend it for fans of YA, fantasy, retellings, fairy tales, reimaginings, and paranormal fiction.
ELANA
K. ARNOLD is the author of critically acclaimed and award-winning young
adult novels and children’s books, including the Printz Honor winner
Damsel, the National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of, and
Global Read Aloud selection A Boy Called Bat and its sequels. Several of
her books are Junior Library Guild selections and have appeared on many
best book lists, including the Amelia Bloomer Project, a catalog of
feminist titles for young readers. Elana teaches in Hamline University’s
MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program and lives in
Southern California with her family and menagerie of pets.
Win a copy of RED HOOD by Elana K. Arnold (US Only)
Starts: February 18, 2020
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