Red Rider's Hood
Neal Shusterman

This is the second in the dark fusion series that combines fairy tales and legends into a modern story. The first in the series, Dreadlocks, combined The Three Bears with the Medusa legend. In Red Rider's Hood, Red, known since childhood as Red Rider due to his Radio Flyer wagon, has a cherry red Mustang that is his pride and joy. When his mother asks him to take "bread" (money) to his hippie grandmother, he is distracted along the way by Flowers (Marvin and his sister Marissa) until he comes to his grandmother's house, only to find the gang of Wolves have already arrived to steal grandma's "bread." The leader of the Wolves hides in grandma's bed pretending to be her! It turns out that Grandma is safe in the basement of her house, but Red soon finds himself drawn into a world of werewolves and werewolf hunters. This was exciting, full of twists, and an amazing mixture of Red Riding Hood and werewolf and vampire legend. Students will enjoy finding the not-so-subtle references and will be glued to the book until the final conclusion. Highly Recommended.