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Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | EASY BLO | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
A wolf learns to read in order to impress a group of farmyard animals he has met.
Author Notes
Bloom has been running her own publishing company for two years.
Biet studied visual communications and design at Blois, France, where he graduated with honors.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
With a pinch of the tongue-in-cheek and a pound of perseverance, this droll wolf story is a charmer. When a hungry, nearly penniless itinerant wolf decides to make a meal of some barnyard animals, he finds that they won't even look up from their books. "This is a farm for educated animals," they tell him. The wolf is caught so off guard that he forgets about his appetite and enrolls in school. When he takes his newfound knowledge back to the farm and proudly reads, "Run wolf! Run!" the animals go on "reading their own books, not the least impressed." Not until the wolf makes repeat visits to the library and buys his own storybook (with his last coins) can he read "with confidence and passion," entrancing the cow, pig and duck with story after story. The foursome decides to travel the world as storytellers, and the endpapers show them reading books to children everywhere. French illustrator Biet fills her fresh watercolors with lively humor and clever characterizations. The wolf, sporting red reading glasses and an orange vest, peruses library books as solemnly as a British don. The cow wears blue sunglasses and a look of contented rapture as she listens to the wolf's tales. The wry humor of both text and illustrations wisely offsets the book's underlying message about the determination needed to learn to read well. All ages. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Much to a hungry wolf's surprise, the farm animals barely look up from their books when he comes to devour them. Instead, they tell him to quit disturbing their reading. The agile watercolor artwork exudes a dry wit as it follows the wolf on his quest to become as fluent a reader as the other animals. From HORN BOOK Fall 1999, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Ages 4^-9. A savage outsider wolf gets a life when he discovers the power of reading. Part fractured fairy tale, part farmyard fable, this wry picture book pits education against brute strength. The animals pay no mind to the wolf when he acts big and dangerous; they are too busy reading. Shocked, he decides to go to school. ("The children found it strange to have a wolf in their class, but since he didn't try to eat anyone . . .") He returns to the farm, but the farmyard is unimpressed by his literacy when he reads "See wolf run"; he still has a long way to go. Only when he reads aloud great stories does he grab the animals' attention and become their friend. There is still the old stereotype of the library as the place of "dusty old books" versus the bright modern bookstore, where he buys the "splendid new storybook" that makes all the animals listen. However, the lively line-and-watercolor illustrations extend the laid-back comedy with riotous views of the studious wolf in the stacks as well as bucolic scenes of the bespectacled cow, the pig, and the duck at their books. Children will also recognize that when the wolf gets lost in a story, he becomes Little Red Riding Hood as easily as a swashbuckling pirate. --Hazel Rochman
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Bloom gives folklore's villain a new role. Woebegone and hungry, Wolf is rebuffed by his intended victims-a duck, a pig, and a cow-when he attempts to use his ilk's traditional tactics to secure lunch. Deeply engrossed in their reading, the highly literate trio cannot be bothered with the ruffian intruder. Stunned to be ignored by his would-be prey, who ask him to be big and dangerous elsewhere, the wolf determines that he, too, can educate himself and so sets off to school sporting a new set of red glasses. Although his human classmates are a bit puzzled by his presence, he masters the basics and tries in vain to impress the barnyard animals by reading from his primer, "Run, wolf! Run! See wolf run." Determined to hold their attention, Wolf goes first to the public library and then to the bookstore to acquire more reading experience and skill, until he finally gains an appreciative audience when he reads "with confidence and passion." The pig, the cow, and the duck beg for more, and the protagonist finds that literacy is the key to friendship. Parents, teachers, librarians, and newly skilled readers will love the unabashedly undisguised message of the text, but any audience will find great fun in Biet's jaunty watercolors that invest Wolf and his reading pals with such distinctive character.-Sue Sherif, Fairbanks North Star Borough Public Library, AK (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
An entertaining tale featuring well-known figures; a tired, hungry wold enters a little town populated by disgruntled people, humorously drawn by Biet. He carries a hobo's kerchief on a stick, has ""only a little money that he kept for emergencies."" He ventures out to a farm, planning to eat the animals, but finds them unfazed and engrossed in reading. In a fit of one-upmanship, he decides to learn to read, too, and ""since he didn't try to eat anyone,"" his human classmates become accustomed to having him around. He is rejected again by the animals until he refines his style of reading aloud. He is finally accepted into the group for his efforts, and all read happily ever after in the farmyard. That ending is a bit abrupt, but readers will be compensated in the portrayal of ducks, cows, and pigs reading--and their annoyance when they are interrupted--which perfectly suits the amusing text. The cartoonish figures have expressive faces and postures, offering plenty for readers to pore over. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
