The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing
Written by Bob Hartman
Illustrated by Tim Raglan
Published by Lion Hudson
Life can be sweet when you're a sheep, particularly when you're part of a large family who live in a swanky mansion, Downton Abbey style. But Little Sheep isn't satisfied. She longs for excitement, adventure, perhaps even the chance to blow a few houses down. To put no finer point on it, Little Sheep wants to be a wolf.
Her beleaguered parents give in to her whims (It's just a stage she's going through dear!) and make her an absolutely fantastic and extremely convincing wolf suit, and pack her off to wolf school to see how it suits her.
Little Sheep does very well at wolf school, in fact her enthusiasm and friendliness mean that she quickly makes friends with little wolf - and the two become inseparable.
Problems arise though when little wolf invites his new sheep-wolf friend round to dinner. Can a vegetarian possibly convince ravenous wolves to change their ways? Particularly when there's a real twist to what's on the menu!
There are so many delightful scenes in this story, and it feels wholly original and entertainingly told. Bob Hartman's gift for storytelling is to keep you guessing. Coupled with Tim Raglan's utterly superb illustrations, wrought in a sort of 'olde english' line and painted style, are also really great (we particularly loved his expressions for the poor nervous looking sheep in each scene).
We suspect that given the choice, Charlotte would quite like to be a wolf for the day but I don't think she'd like to sit down to a huge plate of roast lamb either.
"The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing" by Bob Hartman and Tim Raglan is released today (20th June 2014), from Lion Hudson Books - and it's bloomin' brilliant!
Charlotte's best bit: The wolves being rather nonchalant about the fact that they have bits of the farmer stashed away in their freezer, including his head. Ewwwww!
Daddy's Favourite bit: A superb fish-out-of-water tale with more twists and turnarounds than a twisty-turny thing! Love it, love it, LOVE IT!
(Kindly sent to us by the awesome Hattie and her furry office fellows at Lion Hudson)