WOLFIE PAINTS THE TOWN

Portrait of a town by a young wolf.

“Welcome to Little Wood! The tiniest town around.” Meet Wolfie, a young artist, who walks around her community with her easel, painting different aspects of it and thereby introducing different characters and places that seem likely to be featured in later selections of what is surely a new series. Young listeners will be introduced to Bear, Badger, Rabbit, among others, and see them walking, gardening, and building as they go about their days (they are all revisited later in Wolfie’s culminating gallery show). Photographs of Gibson’s appealing felt creatures have the feeling of stop-motion animation and are full of details to explore, while the text is very simple, though sometimes stilted, and has a stylized retro tone, emphasized with an abundance of exclamation points. Perhaps better suited to a board-book format, this brief but pleasant tale stands out more for the distinctive style of illustration than anything else; the minimal text seems to exist as an afterthought rather than as a partner to the illustrations. Still, young readers and listeners will embrace this sweet, soft world that’s full of warmth and friendliness and look forward to the offerings that follow.

A nice choice to encourage kids to explore their own neighborhoods.