Book Review: “Little Red Writing” by Joan Holub

Recommended reading age: 4 to 9 (though kids of all ages can enjoy reading this with their families)

Why This is One of the Best Children’s Books

If I were to use three adjectives to describe Joan Holub’s “Little Red Writing,” I would choose “fanciful,” “delightful” and “educational.” And if I were to throw in adjectives describing the way my son and I read this exuberant children’s book, I would use “joyfully” and “excitedly.”

My preschool-aged son and I have grown pretty excited about the parts of speech, since becoming fans of “Little Red Writing.”

This plucky tale sucks in readers with its adventurous twists and turns, cleverly reimagining a fairy tale classic. Through it all, Holub sprinkles in fun lessons about punctuation, story structure and parts of speech, all in a digestible and exhilarating fashion.

Slightly tweaked from the original tale, Little Red in this story is a pencil, attending pencil school. After a helpful overview of story structure, her teacher tasks her with writing an original tale.

Little Red proceeds to both write and live a grand adventure at the same time. Striving to stick to her story path, she braves adjective forests, run-on sentences and eerie sounds — with parts of speech aiding her along the way.

Each of her challenges proves hilarious and fun, demonstrating each part of speech as they interweave in the story.

Little Red tosses out nouns to deter a pursuer, for instance. Conjunctions stick by her to see her through a rough patch, and adverbs help her (speedily) escape from an endless sentence.

The climax proves the most side-splitting, with a standoff between Little Red and a Wolf-3000 pencil sharpener. Luckily, the hasty use of an explosive noun saves her just in time.

Lighthearted and engaging on every page, this book can help young readers hone their understanding of parts of speech like nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

On top of that, the thrills of this story might inspire kids to apply this understanding toward penning their own marvelous tale.

How My Child Reacted to This Book

I specifically chose to review this book after my son insisted on reading it back-to-back several times, even asking a relative to sit and listen, too.

He was gleeful at numerous points in the book, especially Little Red’s showdown with the pencil sharpener, as well as my breathless narration of the run-on sentence.

He also giggled through all of the many silly scenes, such as Little Red boogying and cartwheeling at a verb fitness class. I predict this book will remain a favorite for some time.

Potential Activities to Pair with This Book

Families can pair “Little Red Writing” with a variety of fun activities to boost children’s writing skills.

As the story focuses on Little Red crafting a story, families can review the rules of story structure in the book, and then challenge kids with writing their own short story.

Families can also create games about various parts of speech used in the book. For instance, families can say a sentence, and ask kids to stand when they hear a verb. Or, kids can look at a group of sentences written on a page, and color over all the conjunctions with crayons.

Regardless of the games families create, “Little Red Writing” gives kids a taste of how fun writing can be.

More Children’s Books Like This

‘Exclamation Points Say Wow’ – A Fun Romp About Punctuation and Theater