View source for A Dublin Fairytale by Nicola Colton

{{infobox2
|title=A Dublin Fairytale
|sort=Dublin Fairytale
|author=Nicola Colton
|reviewer=Ruth Ng
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=With a twist on the Little Red Riding Hood tale, this is an easy-going story, with some lovely drawings.
|rating=4
|buy=yes
|borrow=yes
|pages=32
|publisher=The O'Brien Press
|date=September 2015
|isbn=9781847177742
|website=http://www.nicolacolton.com/
|video=
|aznuk=1847177743
|aznus=1847177743
|cover=1847177743  
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I like a good fairytale, especially when a writer approaches it in a different way.  This one is all about a little girl called Fiona who lives in Dublin with her mum.  She has a nice red hooded raincoat, if you’re looking for a clue as to which fairytale this might be!  Rather than wandering through a deep dark wood to get to Grandma’s house, she walks the streets of Dublin, past various landmarks, to get to the magical witches’ market and buy all the things she needs to take to Grandma’s house.  On her way she does, as you might imagine, meet some interesting challenges!

So, along with being called Fiona, and living in Dublin, and heading for a Witches’ market, you might guess that it isn’t just the typical big bad wolf Fiona meets on her wanderings!  First of all she comes across a loud, howling giant.  Although she is very scared she says, in a brave voice, that she can’t stop because she’s in a hurry.  The giant, it turns out, is shouting because his foot is caught in a thorn bush.  What will Fiona do?  You can probably guess that she kindly helps the giant to free his foot.  She also comes across a Troll in trouble on Ha’penny Bridge, and a dragon who is scared of a pigeon!  

After making it all the way to the market I found myself a little disappointed that there had been no wolf, but then he does finally make an appearance after she’s done her shopping as he whizzes by on a bike and tries to steal all her things!  Luckily for Fiona, all her new friends are nearby to help her out of trouble, and it turns out the naughty wolf only wanted a slice of cake, so everyone is invited to Grandma’s house for a tea time snack!

I did enjoy the unexpected friends that Fiona meets along the way in this story, and I like that she is kind enough (and brave enough!) to stop and help them in their trouble.  It’s a very tricky subject with children, I find, dealing with making them aware of stranger dangers but at the same time trying to help them not be paranoid and suspicious of everyone!  There’s nothing to help you in this discussion here unfortunately, but you can at least talk about what to do if you meet someone who is in trouble (ask a grown up is, of course, the missing ‘real life’ pointer here, but it’s unlikely that my kids are going to meet a pigeon-phobic dragon any time soon!)  I was glad that it turned out everyone was nice in this story, even the bad old wolf in his hoodie, though if it had been me I would have sent him home without any cake to teach him a lesson!

The illustrations are charming, softly drawn with lovely autumnal colours and interesting things to look at throughout.  They help the story along nicely, and the book generally has a good pace to it and is gently written, working well as a nice bedtime story.

Further reading suggestion: I really like this alternative fairytale and perhaps you might too?  [[How the Library (Not the Prince) Saved Rapunzel by Wendy Meddour and Rebecca Ashdown]].

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