School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-This funny story infused with a lesson about fake news opens with a fairy-tale staple: villagers confronting a looming terror, in this case a wolf with wild eyes and ice pick-like fangs. The woodland animal villagers spend their days learning about their foe, and when a friendly, goofy-underpants-clad wolf shows up one day, they warn him of the danger. It turns out, of course, that he's the terror in question, and the villagers are forced to admit that maybe living in fear isn't a way to live at all. The closing lesson becomes a little pedantic, but otherwise this is a fast-moving, amusing narrative topped off with almost-bad words (butt! undies!) that young readers will love. The attractive, detailed art uses woodland tones and features expressive creatures that resemble those drawn by Richard Scarry. VERDICT A winner whose short text and appealing artwork will find fans among emerging readers.-Henrietta Verma, Credo Reference, Jackson Heights, NY © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Cozy knitwear changes lives in this graphic novel about a fear-mongering woodland populace. Stressing over the local wolf has become the community's raison d'Aªtre and an engine of the local forest economy. Bunnies, foxes, turtles, and other animals support a ragtag antiwolf brigade of badgers ("This forest pays a lot for them, but it's worth it"), read wolf crime novels, and line up for dubious antiwolf hazelnut products. Then the actual wolf shows up wearing striped red-and-white underpants and reveals that he was never a threat at all. The "icy cry" and "crazy eyes" that strike fear in forest hearts? All due to "chilly buttocks"-a problem solved by the "life-changing" knit undies ("Comfort! It's so important"). "Sorry," he tells the shocked critters, not a little disgusted by their hateful behavior, "but maybe you need more in your lives than just fear." Drawings by Itoiz and Cauuet's are gems of comic timing and choreography, and the sly translation by Lupano (Curtain Call for adults) makes this satirical-and unavoidably relevant-tale worthy of joining the canon of classic Big Bad Wolf spoofs. Ages 7-11. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.