Review by Booklist Review
The Big Bad Wolf receives a lesson in manners in this hilarious fractured fairy tale that begins with a trip to the mailbox. While sorting through bills (including a rental fee for sheep's clothing ), B. B. Wolf finds an invitation to the local library's storybook tea. Uncertain about attending, Wolf consults a crocodile friend, who points out the pros of the party (cookies) and the cons: You'll have to behave yourself. An etiquette book provides tips, and Wolf sets off on the big day, armed with a list of reminders ( Sip your tea and never slurp. Say Excuse Me' if you Burp ). Kids will delight in the ensuing slapstick humor and the references to familiar stories party guests include Little Red Riding Hood and the Little Engine That Could. Seibold's wild, skillful computer-generated art is filled with jokes and details that will invite repeated viewings. This sly, upended portrait of a storybook villain will pair well with Jon Scieszka's classic The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs (1989).--Engberg, Gillian Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Sierra (Wild About Books) and Seibold (Olive, the Other Reindeer) install story-book characters in a retirement community for this peaceable spoof. As envisioned in Seibold's witty digital style, B.B. Wolf occupies a condo at the Villain Villa Senior Center and sports shaggy brown fur, a graying snout, pince-nez glasses and a cane. His green stovepipe hat looks a bit worse for wear, but he updates his look with a blue tracksuit. While grouching about past-due notices that recall previous exploits (including a bill for "damage to the homes of Pig #1 and Pig #2"), B.B. opens an invitation to a storybook tea at the public library. He consults a crocodile on whether he should attend. "You don't go to a tea for the tea," his friend replies, "You go to a tea for the cookies." The crocodile gives him pointers on etiquette ("Sip your tea and never slurp,/ Say `excuse me' if you burp"), dusts off his orange plaid sport coat and sends him off to the reading room. When B.B. enters, literary mainstays like Red Riding Hood, Bo Peep and the Gingerbread Boy look aghast. Everyone acts excruciatingly polite, but their anxiety is alleviated after too much tea makes B.B. unleash an enormous burp: "You almost blew down the library," snort the Three Little Pigs. Later, leaving with a stack of storybooks, the elderly wolf promises the librarian, "I'll drop by one day and tell you how these stories really happened." Sierra and Seibold expertly tweak the tension and the levity in this story of a trickster's golden years. Ages 4-8. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Sierra has created a clever book about manners and using one's best behavior with a central character known for neither: B.B. (as in Big Bad) Wolf. When the protagonist, who resides at Villain Villa, finds an invitation to a library storybook tea in his mailbox, he is not sure that he wants to go because he doesn't like tea. But Crocodile explains that the main reason to go to a tea is for the cookies. He prepares B.B. for the event, rehearsing proper etiquette (sip, don't slurp; say "Excuse me" when you burp; smile and have a good time). After sipping cup after cup of tea, B.B. feels a ferocious burp gathering steam. He excuses himself before the window-rattling explosion and is complimented by the librarian for his wonderful manners. When B.B. refuses a proffered gingerbread cookie because he could not eat a Gingerbread Boy, the librarian exclaims that he is sensitive and that "storybooks don't do you justice." Sierra's text is spot-on, and Seibold's hilarious illustrations include many easily recognizable characters from various stories. Children will love attending this rollicking party and combing the illustrations for old friends. Sierra has included several levels of humor, and Seibold adds even more twists.-Mary Hazelton, Elementary Schools in Warren & Waldoboro, ME (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 Horn Book Review
(Primary) Mixed among the bills (for things like the cost of rebuilding the homes of two little pigs) is a card inviting B.B. Wolf to tea at the library. B.B. anxiously consults his friend the crocodile about what will be expected and comes up with a rhyme to remind himself of some of the finer points: ""Sip your tea and never slurp, say 'Excuse me' if you burp."" Dressed in his striped pants and plaid jacket, a pair of reading glasses perched on his snout, B.B. heads to the library. The other party guests look worried to see him, especially the gingerbread boy, but the librarian makes the assorted storybook characters comfortable, at least until B.B.'s spectacular burp. Seibold's zany digital illustrations include dozens of funny details for children to spot, from the giant Venus flytrap outside the Villain Villa for seniors where B.B. lives to the dog made of bricks guarding the brick house of the third little pig. Funniest of all, though, is B.B. himself, a bundle of nerves in a social situation, and readers will get the message, delivered in a lighthearted way, that manners help you know what to do. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Veteran storyteller Sierra takes a refreshingly oblique approach to promoting polite behavior. Invited to a storybook tea at the local library, Wolf--still big but no longer so bad--sets out from the Villain Villa Senior Center determined to be on his best behavior. Predictably, his arrival causes consternation among the assembled guests--until he breaks the ice with a polite "excuse me," followed by a gigantic, spread-filling belch. Thereafter, he's the life of the party, and earns a takeaway bag of gingerbread cookies from Miss Wonderly the librarian. In typically quirky digital art, Seibold dresses the wolf in a loud plaid sports coat, and brings an array of familiar figures to the library table, from Little Red Riding Hood to Elmer the Patchwork Elephant and the Little Engine That Could. It won't take much encouragement to persuade readers to echo Wolf's parting song: "Even in a house of bricks / Big bad wolves can learn new tricks." (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
