Benjamin Allen Nelson

Little Red Flying Hood Benjamin Allen Nelson

Publisher Marketing: Little Red Flying Hood is a charming retelling of the original story of the plucky girl in the red hooded cape. Rather than a regular girl, in this story Red is a fruit fly. She and her friends, a bee, cricket twins, and a firefly face frightening foes and dangers on their journey to save Grandma. Each uses their strengths to overcome weaknesses and through friendship and understanding they defeat the evil spider, Cranston. Little Red Flying Hood is from the mind and talent of Benjamin Allen Nelson, who has autism. This is Ben's first book. Ben began drawing at around the time he was diagnosed with autism. Autism took his speech, but his mind was filled with images and ideas that he needed to express. Ben drew on every notepad or piece of paper he could get his hands on. His family realized that the images he was drawing were stories and that in his mind he could speed up a sequence, slow it down, and show the images from different character's points of view. When Ben began high school, his teacher, Maureen Clark, introduced him to Adobe Illustrator and a whole new world opened up for him. He was able to give his images movement, depth, color, and life quickly. He could create the stories in his imagination perfectly. Little Red Flying Hood is the first of a series of books Ben will create to retell classic tales.