Friday, January 17, 2014

Big Bad Wolf is Good

Big Bad Wolf is Good

Author: Simon Puttock
Illustrator: Lynne Chapman

Big Bad Wolf is Good

Genre: Picture Book, Fractured Fairy Tale

Summary (from Goodreads):  Poor Wolf—he’s so lonely! Nobody wants to be his friend.
Not the ducklings, not the goslings, not the fuzzy yellow chicks. “Perhaps it’s because
I’m big and scary,” he thinks. “Perhaps it’s because I’m bad, bad, bad.” Then he has a bright idea: What if he changes his ways and becomes good? What if he does a noble deed?
But, none of the animals will listen when Wolf tries to tell them about his new plan.
They just flee in terror, slamming the door right in his face. Then something really awful happens: one of the ducklings disappears and everybody thinks Wolf has eaten him all up. Can the Big Bad Wolf prove he didn’t have duck for dinner—and bring the lost little baby safely home? A charming and delightfully fractured fairy tale about friendship, and a wonderful example for children that a person can change, with sweet and funny illustrations that will delight youngsters over and over again.


Review:  I imagine that I'm overreacting to this book based on the scary experience my kids had yesterday with a creepy guy in a pickup truck following them down the street....

The Big Bad Wolf is trying to change his image to become a good wolf, but the small animals he interacts with are still scared of him.  While this could be a good lesson for small children, to learn not to judge other by their appearance, I felt like a better lesson is that it is perfectly the right thing to do to run inside the house and slam the door if a scary person comes up to your yard and offers to play with you.  So while I felt sorry for the wolf because he genuinely was trying to be a nice guy, I felt like the small animals were doing the right thing.  But I am probably over thinking this book.

The illustrations were cute, and my kids like the story.

Rating: 2 stars

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