Review by Booklist Review
Rufus is a real wolf; he likes to run, roll in the grass, and howl at the moon. But his parents, feeling he needs a more structured existence, send him off to the Big Bad Wolf Academy. The curriculum is tough: learning to huff and puff and coming up with disguises. But Rufus longs for his old wolfish ways. When it's time for exams (Is it better to enter a henhouse through the door or window? ), Rufus is unprepared. Then hunters interrupt the tests, and it is Rufus who leads the charge, howling and chasing the prey. The story is clever, but much of the humor comes from Sneed's paintings, which are both full of energy and extremely funny, with everything from scenes of the wolves dressed in Granny clothing to a spread of the Huff-n-Puff Range at the school. Young fairy-tale lovers will like the feeling of being in on the joke. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
When a carefree, nature-loving wolf named Rufus is sent to boarding school boot camp to learn the ways of the big and the bad, the results are expectedly comical. Hoping to toughen up their young free spirit, Rufus's parents send him to the Big Bad Wolf Academy. Much of the humor is found in Sneed's (The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians) whimsical watercolors of Rufus's days there. At the huffing and puffing range, he lazily blows dandelion seeds instead of blowing over wooden cut-outs of the Three Little Pigs in their houses, labeled respectively as "Breezy," "Gusty" and "Gale!" Study questions include "Which is easier to wear-a nightgown or pajamas?"; in an especially hilarious spread, the wolves line up in their best grandmotherly disguises, adorned with matronly wigs, bedclothes and fuzzy slippers. Readers familiar with wolf fables will best appreciate the story's comedy, but all will cheer when Rufus's innate Canis lupus traits save the day. While the shaggy-headed wolf may appear to be a bored slacker in class-in one scene he has a pencil up his nose-the reason for his seemingly impertinent behavior rests in misunderstandings and mismatched priorities. Krensky's (Too Many Leprechauns) message seems to be that results are best when "wolves" are allowed to be themselves. Ages 4-8. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-Rufus's parents are worried that he will not be able to survive out in the world, so they send him to the Big Bad Wolf Academy in this iconographic rendering of Stephen Krensky's book (S & S, 2007). Rufus has a hard time fitting in at the boarding school. He can't huff and puff, wear disguises properly, or master sheep language like the other wolves. He prefers to investigate by sniffing, running around the school, and howling at the moon. When hunters invade the school, the other students try to defend themselves with the usual wolf techniques, but the hunters are not deterred. But when Rufus begins to howl and the other wolves follow suit, the hunters retreat. Brad Sneed's humorous watercolor illustrations are manipulated using various camera techniques to achieve movement, and Jim Brownold provides excellent narration. In this "Special Appearance Video," Krensky talks about his inspiration for the book. Youngsters will want to see this again and again.-Stephanie Bange, Wilmington-Stroop Branch, Dayton Metro Library, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A lupine black sheep if ever there was one, Rufus blows off all of his classwork at Big Bad Wolf Academy to lounge in the meadows, howl at the moon and generally fool around. However, he earns a special award at graduation by driving off a crew of hunters, then gets all of his classmates to "put away their lessons" in sheep language, dressing as grannies and the like to be wild wolves again--except at Halloween, when a little skill at disguises comes in handy for trick-or-treating. Sneed illustrates this unabashedly subversive episode with scenes of sinuous, feral-looking wolves comically attired in human dress or, in Rufus's case, jumping rope with small woodland buddies and sticking pencils up his nose. His unshakeable self-confidence echoes that of the budding florist in Marie-Odile Judes's Max, the Stubborn Little Wolf (2001), and makes for an amusing contrast to the wimpy wallflower in Delphine Perret's The Big Bad Wolf and Me (2006). (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
