ARNOLD THE BRAVE

Even a superhero sheep can’t go it alone without a trusty sidekick.

Sheep graze. Occasionally they are sheared for their wool, and occasionally they make a fine meal (especially to big bad wolves). But “As far as Arnold is concerned, any old sheep can graze.” Arnold likes to bang out the pushups and chin-ups and to dance around in circles shadowboxing. “ ‘I am a Super Sheep!’ says Arnold. But that’s not what the other sheep think. They just don’t get Arnold.” But Milo the mole does. He thinks Arnold is grand stuff and helps him with his training. When the wolf inevitably shows, all the sheep run and hide, but Arnold stands his ground (with Milo). Arnold challenges the wolf, feinting and jabbing and looking so ridiculous the wolf starts to laugh. Laughing, the wolf doesn’t notice Milo grab a stray end of Arnold’s sweater and tie it to the wolf’s tail. Round and round Arnold goes, till the wolf finally lunges to discover that his feet are all tangled up in Arnold’s diminished sweater. Down the wolf falls on his noggin, getting knocked silly. Whatever the moral of the story—go your own way; when the going gets tough, the weak get tricky—Arnold is a good and sympathetic character, the whole story drawn together by Renger’s easygoing cartoon illustrations

The final word: there is more than one way to teach a wolf some manners.