BOOK REVIEW: Wolfie – An Unlikely Hero by Deborah Abela and Connah Brecon

BOOK REVIEW: Wolfie – An Unlikely Hero by Deborah Abela and Connah Brecon

Random House Australia
May 2017
Hardcover, $24.99
Reviewed by Steph O’Connell

Picture Book

6/10

I, The Wolf, am sick of being the bad guy. I’m taking over this book.

Dear Readers,

Fairytales are nonsense. They’re full of wolves pestering pigs and picking on sweet little girls in red hoods. But I would never do those things. I knit! I bake blueberry pie!
You know what I really want to do? I WANT TO RESCUE A PRINCESS!
And if I can’t? I QUIT!

Yours sincerely,
Wolfie

Wolfie may want to be a hero, but he’s about to discover that arguing with this book’s narrator is not the best way to improve his image…

 

Wolfie brings some tried and true pantomime tricks into play, with the eponymous Wolfie talking to the narrator and illustrator of the story. His wishes and requests steer the story, but like a twisted monkey’s paw, his wishes never come out how he’s expecting.

Readers are bound to get a laugh out of his responses to the ways in which his quest for a better story go awry, and this is a good way to start a discussion about not judging someone by their outward appearance, and the humour stops the story from coming across too heavy-handed with this message.

At times the responses are a little too silly, and while the story does lend itself to quite a few “do-overs” in which the story starts over again with Wolfie’s requests taken into account, this can be a little disjointed and hard for younger kids to understand at first. But for older kids learning about stereotypes and writing tools, this is a good book with which to encourage the discussion.

Category: Book Reviews, Other Reviews