The Tea Party in the Woods

The Tea Party in the Woods by Akiko Miyakoshi is a Japanese tale of Little Red Riding Hood, translated into English. A girl in a red skirt and winter hat goes through the woods to bring Grandma a pie. She thinks she’s following her father, but it turns out she’s following a bear in a suit and overcoat to a house in the woods where woodland animals invite her in to lunch and encourage her bravery of traveling alone. In the end, the animals replace her crushed pie with treats from their table and walk her to Grandma’s house, where her father and Grandma greet her. This animal and woods friendly tale is illustrated in charcoal and pencil, with spots of colour ink.

For those of us who want to discourage the notion of a deep, dark forest with scary predators laying in wait, read this alongside other ecological tales as well as other Little Red Riding Hood variations.