LITTLE WOLF, BIG WOLF

PLB 0-06-027487-5 In this goofy entry in the I Can Read series, Little Wolf and Big Wolf have googly eyes, big teeth, and loud clothing; in three chapters they discover friendship and identity. When they first meet, they find things that they almost have in common: Little Wolf likes to pick daisies and Big Wolf likes to eat them; Little Wolf likes to paint faces on stones and Big Wolf prefers skipping them over the pond. In simple but clear language, their negotiation of their differences is comprehensible even to a small child. In the second chapter, in a subversive take on the cleaning-up-for-company theme, Little Wolf hires Busy Bear Cleaning Service to go to work on his house; Big Wolf comes over just in time to turn the pristine place into its earlier messy but comfortable state. In the last section, Little Wolf sets out to invite his friends to a party, and Big Wolf sets out to gather food; when Little Wolf can’t find his friends, guess who happens to be inside Big Wolf’s bag of eats? The quibble may be that the only female on the scene is a fussy cleaning woman, but if readers can stomach the message not to eat their friends, they’ll enjoy this zany pair—they make Frog and Toad look sedated. (Fiction. 6-8)