Little Meg Reddingoode

Blatant plug here:

Little Meg Reddingoode: An Appalachian "Little Red Riding Hood" is my latest Kindle ebook.

Nine-year-old Meg Reddingoode, who lives in Bedford County in the 1770s, must go over the mountain to take some supplies to her grandmother. There's no one else to go—her two older brothers are away in the Powell Valley in deep southwest Virginia with Joseph Martin, another brother is needed to help with farmwork, and there's no one else to make the trek. Meg is worried about wolves, bears and English soldiers who might be about, but her mother reassures her and agrees to let Meg wear her fine red cloak. Meg sets off at dawn and follows the sun. When she's almost at her destination, she encounters a young man who saw her red cloak through the trees and mistook her for an English soldier. And then—well, to find out more you'll need to read the ebook. It's only $1.99.

I'm delighted with the first review to appear on Amazon: 

Mushko's retelling of Little Red Riding Hood is a winner. The settings and feel for the time period are spot on. Of particular enjoyment was the change of the Big Bad Wolf from a talking animal to a realistic image of a human predator consistent with the time period. The inclusion of common wisdom and knowledge needed in the 1770s makes for a great teaching moment. With this moment in mind, Mushko draws on her thirty plus years of teaching experience by including a study guide to accompany the story. The guide covers more than a literary analysis of the text. It also ties in geography, history, and science making the story a useful inclusion for many different lessons and age levels all the way from kindergarten to college pre-service teachers. The kindle version makes the story easily accessible.—K. Flowers

I wrote Little Meg Reddingoode over a decade ago and used it in my 2005 vanity-published kids' book, Where There's A Will. I decided to recycle Little Meg as a companion for Ferradiddledumday, which I Kindle-published in June. Both are Appalachian retellings of stories from the Brothers Grimm. Besides being entertaining for kids seven and up to read on their own, both will work well in elementary or middle school classrooms. 

Little Meg, like the Ferradiddledumday ebook, is text-only, no illustrations. Currently, I have no plans to do a separate print book. The print version of Ferradiddledumday (which contains illustrations and a study guide) is currently unavailable on Amazon, but the publisher has assured me that this is only temporary and the print version will soon be available. Meanwhile, I have a few print copies of Ferradiddledumday, and it's also available directly from the publisher.

If you like Appalachian re-tellings of old tales, you might enjoy these tales.

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