#16 – Wolf! Wolf!

#16 – Wolf! Wolf!

Wolf! Wolf!

Written by: John Rocco

Illustrated by: John Rocco

Hyperion Books for Children

2007

29 pages

Traditional Literature

            This book is a retelling of the classic story The Boy Who Cried Wolf. The wolf is the main character and is actually very innocent. He is a terrible hunter, and he is trying to grow his own garden for food. His garden is failing miserably though. One day the wolf hears a boy calling his name. When he goes to investigate he notices a bunch of villagers have rushed to the boy as well. He realizes that the boy is trying to trick the villagers by making them think there is a wolf trying to eat the village sheep. The boy continues to trick the villagers, and the wolf comes up with a plan. When the boy calls the villagers and they don’t come, the wolf makes his appearance. The boy is very frightened, and he calls to the villagers. The villagers have had enough, and they don’t come. The wolf makes a deal with the boy. He won’t eat all of the sheep if he can have just one. The boy agrees, and the next day the boy brings the wolf a sheep to his garden. The goat eats all the wolf’s weeds in his garden, and his garden flourishes. The wolf has a new friend, and he is no longer starving. The boy learned his lesson as well.

            The beautiful illustrations in Wolf! Wolf! are done with paints. The pictures are done in a Japanese style with tons of nature and details. The pictures are contained within a simple border. The text is informal and surrounded by the images. The text is always on a white background. The colors are very natural and calming. The pictures contain a lot of dimensions, highlighting, and shading. The outlines are very thin and blend into the pictures. The characters are very detailed and realistic looking. I really enjoyed the pictures and how detailed they were.

            This book would be appropriate for any elementary classroom. Teachers could use this book to talk about theme, main ideas, or the author’s purpose. Students would be able to identify the moral of the story. This book could also be used to talk about fables.