Beware of the Storybook Wolves By: Lauren Child
Summary: A young boy named Herb enjoys the bedtime stories his mother reads him each night. One night she forgot to close the story book. To Herb's surprise, two wolves jumped out of the book. Big Storybook Wolf and Smaller Wolf thought Herb could be their next meal. Herb had to think quickly. Herb tricked the wolves into believing that little boys are dessert, not the appetizer or the main meal. They believed Herb, and began to look for an appetizer. Herb remembered seeing green jell-o in another fairy tale story. It was on the table while Princess Beautiful slept. Herb quickly grabbed the jell-o off the table. He did not notice the wicked fairy that was hiding behind the table. The wicked fairy did not like children. She remembered what Hansel and Gretel did to her friend and her house. The wicked fairy was annoyed with the wolves, and told them that little boys are appetizers, not jell-o. Afterwards, the wicked fairy returned to her storybook. The wolves turned their attention back to Herb. Herb was desperate, so he shook the Fairy Godmother out of her story for help. The Fairy Godmother was annoyed to have left her story. She was trying to help Cinderella. Then, she realized the wolves were approaching Herb. She waved her magic wand at the Smaller Wolf, and Smaller Wolf found himself dressed in Cinderella's gown. Smaller Wolf liked how he looked in the mirror. He jumped into the fairy tale book, and went to the ball with the Prince. Big Storybook Wolf opened his mouth to swallow poor Herb. Before he could do that, the Fairy Godmother turned Big Storybook Wolf into a caterpillar. She also returned him to the wolf storybook. The Fairy Godmother decided she needed a vacation, so she disappeared in search of one. Herb then piled the heaviest object he could find on the storybooks. It was his bed. Herb felt safe, and went to sleep.
Beware of Storybook Wolves is a very imaginative fairy tale. It contains many traditional literature elements. The setting of Beware of Storybook Wolves is vague and found in a bedroom. Beware of Storybook Wolves has characters that are good and evil. Herb and the Fairy Godmother are good. They are paired against the book's antagonists, Big Storybook Wolf and Little Wolf. This is a wonderful use of characterization. Magic was found throughout the book. The Fairy Godmother waved her magic wand, and turned the Big Storybook Wolf into a caterpillar. This book also displayed several variants. Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella were all combined into this lively story. Each individual story had different endings. Poor Cinderella did not attend the ball, and Riding Hood encountered a tiny caterpillar on her way to Grandma's house. The plot was also cyclical. The story began and ended with the story of Little Red Riding Hood.
"Any child would get a kick out of reading this book. Children can relate to it, and make connections. This is a wonderful story of a child’s fear of storybook characters, and his efforts to find new characters to help him. I really liked the creative use of fairy tales, and the story as a whole. This is a fun and imaginative storybook to read!"Cassandra
"Beware of Storybook Wolves is an engaging and fun adventure that children will enjoy! I think this story will be great for a Kindergarten through Second grade class. The older classes could even use this book as a compare and contrast writing assignment." Heather
Summary: A young boy named Herb enjoys the bedtime stories his mother reads him each night. One night she forgot to close the story book. To Herb's surprise, two wolves jumped out of the book. Big Storybook Wolf and Smaller Wolf thought Herb could be their next meal. Herb had to think quickly. Herb tricked the wolves into believing that little boys are dessert, not the appetizer or the main meal. They believed Herb, and began to look for an appetizer. Herb remembered seeing green jell-o in another fairy tale story. It was on the table while Princess Beautiful slept. Herb quickly grabbed the jell-o off the table. He did not notice the wicked fairy that was hiding behind the table. The wicked fairy did not like children. She remembered what Hansel and Gretel did to her friend and her house. The wicked fairy was annoyed with the wolves, and told them that little boys are appetizers, not jell-o. Afterwards, the wicked fairy returned to her storybook. The wolves turned their attention back to Herb. Herb was desperate, so he shook the Fairy Godmother out of her story for help. The Fairy Godmother was annoyed to have left her story. She was trying to help Cinderella. Then, she realized the wolves were approaching Herb. She waved her magic wand at the Smaller Wolf, and Smaller Wolf found himself dressed in Cinderella's gown. Smaller Wolf liked how he looked in the mirror. He jumped into the fairy tale book, and went to the ball with the Prince. Big Storybook Wolf opened his mouth to swallow poor Herb. Before he could do that, the Fairy Godmother turned Big Storybook Wolf into a caterpillar. She also returned him to the wolf storybook. The Fairy Godmother decided she needed a vacation, so she disappeared in search of one. Herb then piled the heaviest object he could find on the storybooks. It was his bed. Herb felt safe, and went to sleep.
Beware of Storybook Wolves is a very imaginative fairy tale. It contains many traditional literature elements. The setting of Beware of Storybook Wolves is vague and found in a bedroom. Beware of Storybook Wolves has characters that are good and evil. Herb and the Fairy Godmother are good. They are paired against the book's antagonists, Big Storybook Wolf and Little Wolf. This is a wonderful use of characterization. Magic was found throughout the book. The Fairy Godmother waved her magic wand, and turned the Big Storybook Wolf into a caterpillar. This book also displayed several variants. Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella were all combined into this lively story. Each individual story had different endings. Poor Cinderella did not attend the ball, and Riding Hood encountered a tiny caterpillar on her way to Grandma's house. The plot was also cyclical. The story began and ended with the story of Little Red Riding Hood.
"Beware of Storybook Wolves is an engaging and fun adventure that children will enjoy! I think this story will be great for a Kindergarten through Second grade class. The older classes could even use this book as a compare and contrast writing assignment." Heather
What FUN! I have never heard of this book but think that children would really enjoy it. It's a great way to get the little ones imaginations rolling. Acting it out would be a fun activity or having them use their imagination to sketch out a character they would like to add to the story. Great job! ~Karen
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this book, but I bet that it is a big hit with primary aged children. I know the young girls at my daycare just love all the princesses, and every boy would laugh imagining the wolf wearing Cinderella's dress. I think that a good activity which could be done to let older students have fun with this book is to ask them to write their own "sequel" to the story using different storybook characters and see what kind of different adventures the children would be able to write about.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your blog! I have actually never heard of Beware of Storybook Wolves, but, from your description, it seems like a great book. I definitely plan on reading this and hopefully incorporating it into my future classroom. I plan on getting my students to make a connection between the characters in the book and different fairytales that we will have previously learned about. Thanks for sharing this story book with me!
ReplyDelete-Dana Wyatt
I absolutely love this!!! I have never heard of this book but I think it would be a great fixture in my classroom. I love how it ties several familiar stories together to make one great collage. ~Ashley
ReplyDelete