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WolvesEmily Gravett
Wolves
by Emily Gravett
A rabbit borrows a library book about wolves and reads it while walking, not noticing the book is becoming rather more three-dimensional.
A story about animals, funny and wry in tone. We would put it with children of 4–7, and at a reading age of about 6 for reading alone.
Worth knowing before you buy
- Mild peril
None of this makes it a bad book — often the opposite. It is here so you can decide whether it is right for your child now or in a year or two.
Our take on this book
A rabbit borrows a library book about wolves and reads it as he walks along, entirely absorbed and entirely failing to notice that the wolf on the pages is becoming steadily more real and more three-dimensional around him. Emily Gravett's award-winning picture book is a small masterpiece of design, blurring the book the rabbit is reading with the book you are holding, complete with a torn page, a library due-date card and a cheekily reassuring alternative ending for sensitive readers. The wit is dry and the danger is entirely a joke about not paying attention, though the shadow of the wolf gives it a delicious frisson. For a four- to seven-year-old it works on two levels at once: the simple funny story of a distracted rabbit, and the cleverer game about books and reality that older children and adults enjoy spotting. It rewards being pored over more than once.
If they like this, try these
Chosen by matching age, reading age, tone and subject — not by what is selling.
Little Mouse's Big Book of FearsEmily Gravett
Mr Wolf's PancakesJan Fearnley
Six Dinner SidInga Moore
The Diary of a Killer CatAnne Fine
Father ChristmasRaymond Briggs
Meerkat MailEmily Gravett
Or let them write their own.
Nothing gets a child reading like a story they invented themselves. Your child plans the characters and the plot, and we write, illustrate and print it as a real book with their name on the cover as the author.
Find another book
Tell us the age, the reading age and what they like, and we will suggest a handful.