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From Publishers Weekly
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.
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