Wolf Pie

Andrew Watts evokes a complex wolf character whose believability is central to this twist on the traditional tale of "The Three Little Pigs." He portrays Wilfong with a gruff edge that is reminiscent of the original "Big Bad," but this wolf's responses to his experiences with the Pygg brothers change both their stereotypes and the listener's views of them. Watts quickly builds compassion for Wilfong as the wolf chatters with cold, gets sick on the bus, and "urps" on the Ferris wheel. Watts is equally skillful at evolving a convincing sense of how the Pygg brothers' relationship with the friendly wolf changes. In the satisfying ending, Watts dramatizes Wilfong's willingness to be part of the Pygg family as he helps defeat a really fierce bunch of wolves. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

June 14, 2010
In this hilarious chapter book, Wilfong the wolf can’t blow down the house that belongs to James, Marvin, and Lester Pygg, so he hangs around until the pigs build him a room of his own—with a latch on their side (“He was reformed, but he was still a wolf”). The characters are well developed, and all four chapters are lively and engaging. On a trip to the beach, Wilfong contends with motion sickness and sunburn, but manages to save the pigs from a riptide. In another chapter he fools a pack of menacing wolves (who look like they stumbled out of West Side Story) that surround the house. Wilfong is so disarmingly amiable that he eventually wins a permanent place in the Pyggs’s hearts and home. Seabrooke’s (Cemetery Street) first-rate dialogue is consistently fresh, and Callen’s (Reading, Rhyming, and ’Rithmetic) watercolors add to the slapstick humor. The story is filled with onomatopoeia ideal for read-aloud (“he wolf’s teeth chattered with cold. Clickety-click! Clickety-clack!”), but it’s the humor in the text and illustrations that will have children laughing and wanting more. Ages 6–9.