Big Bad Wolf

August 1, 2013
Dr. Glenda (a dog) and Nurse Percy (a rooster) deal with a familiar fairy-tale villain while on duty at the hospital in this humorous Urgency Emergency! series entry for new readers. As the story opens, Nurse Percy is comforting a little lamb in a red coat who can't find her grandma. An ambulance arrives with a patient who can't breathe; it's a distressed wolf who seems to have choked on a foreign object. Dr. Glenda determines that it might "not be something stuck in his throat--it may be someone." With the help of the nurse, the doctor repeatedly squeezes the wolf around the middle until the grandma pops out, "a bit chewed around the edges, but otherwise OK." The observant nurse identifies grandma-gobbling as illegal activity and calls the police, who quickly arrive to take the culprit away. The grandma sheep and the little lamb in the red coat leave for home together, but the origins of the characters are left for readers to infer themselves. The wolf is suitably wild and toothy, though not overly scary, and the other characters are earnestly entertaining in the cartoon-style illustrations set against cheerful yellow backgrounds. Not quite as hilarious as the other initial offering in the series, Itsy Bitsy Spider, which publishes simultaneously, but an amusing take on an old story and a fast-reading, funny choice for new readers. (Early reader. 5-8)

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October 1, 2013

K-Gr 2-Both easy readers follow the same basic plot: Doctor Glenda, a dog; Nurse Percy, a chicken; and penguin paramedics bring the patient into the emergency room. In the first story, a wolf is choking. Doctor Glenda carefully explains that something is caught in his throat and must be removed but Nurse Percy is cowering under the gurney. This is a smart chicken-afraid of a wolf. Doctor Glenda quickly convinces him that the wolf is their patient and that he should overcome his fear and help out. Careful readers will noticed the sheep dressed in red in the waiting room who has lost her grandma. The staff squeezes her out of the wolf's stomach, calls the police, and everyone lives happily ever after. In the next book, a spider is taken to the emergency room by Miss Muffet, a cat. The spider fell down the waterspout and cut her head. Miss Muffet is afraid of spiders, but she knows that she has to get help for her. Doctor and Nurse stitch up the spider's head and, in spite of her fear, Miss Muffet takes her home and offers her curds and whey. The books feature one to three sentences per page, and the illustrations are large, colorful, and funny. Supplemental purchases useful for beginning-reader enjoyment or as introductions to emergency-room procedures.-Susan Lissim, Dwight School, New York City

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