Little Wolf - Ian Whybrow

Advantages: Letter Form makes Easy Reading, Cheerful and Friendly Atmosphere.
Disadvantages: Addictive Nonsense-Language, Idea of Individual over Society , Young Readers Brainwashed into the Cub Scouts.

Little Wolf's "Book of Badness" was a childhood favourate of mine, and is the first book of the "Little Wolf" children's book series written by Ian Whybrow and illustrated by the sketch-hand of Tony Ross. The book is written as a whole "alphabet" of letters (surely the collective noun for a series of correspondence?) written by the main character to his parents. But why, you might ask, is Little Wolf writing letters to his parents? And for that ...
...I wondered, - perhaps a little naively. Terry Goodkind would definitely not approve. I feel that this book is eminently suitable for even the younger independent readers, being quite short as it is; (small paperback: 126 pages, big font, pictures and handwriting.) and made up of letters which make for easy breaking up points. On the other hand, this same letter style, the informal language, spellings and the variety of rhetorical (speech) techniques ... Read review

Advantages: short sections, ideal for reluctant reader, good introduction to short novels.
Disadvantages: may not appeal in the same way to girls but this may be a stereotype.

I am a primary school teacher and regularly hunt for books that boys will both enjoy and be able to access as well as find challenging. this book appears to do that. many of the boys find reading 'boring' and unexciting. this book allows for short attention spans with the letter form. it introduces ideas that support the current pedagogy of children being challenged to think about behavioural issues and the impact we have on others. i had to order ...
...to take them home to read again. for a teacher reading to a class it is a dream. it is possible to simply pick it up and read it without any preparation reading, the plot is straightforward for adults but enthrawling for children. i would recommend this book to children from 7 to 12. for parents whose children are reluctant readers, but who can read this is the book to purchase. ... Read review

Advantages: Very fun book with nice bright pictures
Disadvantages: None

...the room has filled with water, will they be in the sea and meet lots of sea creatures and even pirates? MY OPINION I picked this book up for my boys as it is full of wonderful bright pictures. Each page has a detailed picture and a few lines of the story. The words are written in nice big writing so my eldest is encouraged to help me read them and he can also use the pictures to help him with the words. The book is set out in a very simple way and the story is very easy to follow. The book does not take long to read but you can always make it longer if you wish by asking questions about the pictures and asking your children to point things out to you. INFO The book was written by Ian Whybrow and illustrated by Russell Ayto. Other book written by Ian Whybrow include badness for Beginners, What's the Time Little Wolf... Read review

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Advantages: Great book that introduces colours through fun and flaps
Disadvantages: none

...***Background*** Harry is a little boy who has a bucketful of toy dinosaurs. They come to life with the help of his imagination and they have wonderful adventures together. They can be regularly seen on Channel 5 in the morning on the children's Milkshake programme. If you want to know more about the TV series then please feel free to read my review of this for further details. Ian Whybrow is the author of the many Harry books out there but is also well known for his Little Wolf stories that have also been made into television programmes. His humour makes these books a joy to read but there are also important social lessons in most of these books too. Adrian Reynolds provides the illustrations for this series of books and has also worked with authors such as Jeanne Willis and Jonathan Emmett. ***The Story*** This story... Read review

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Advantages: Teaches children about colours
Disadvantages: none

...***Background*** Ian Whybrow is well known for writing about Harry and His Bucketful of Dinosaurs and also for the Little Wolf series, both of which have been made into television programmes. Caroline Jayne Church has illustrated a wide variety of books for other authors but also writes some books herself too. ***The Story*** The story begins, "Wobble Bear was bouncing. (He was bouncing on the bed.) His mummy caught him in a towel And this is what she said: Now listen to this colour, Try to fix it in your head - The colour of this towel is RED, RED, RED! Now, what colour is the towel, Wobble? And Wobble laughed and said, YELLOW!" All the way through the story Mummy Bear introduces Wobble to different colours but each time she asks him what colour it is, he always replies yellow. Then it is time for him... Read review

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