Mind Your Manners, B.B. Wolf - Judy Sierra

Amusing, inventive tribute to fairy tale classics.

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Common Sense rates it
5
Read the book?
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Book details
  • Author:Judy Sierra
  • # of pages: 40
  • Publisher:Random House
  • Original Publication Date: 08/14/2007
  • Genre: Fiction - Picture Book
  • Hardcover: $16.99
  • Publisher's Recommended Reading Level: 4-8
  • Read Aloud: 4
  • Read Alone: 8

Parents need to know

Parents need to know that this delightful book has a great message about manners and friendship.

Families can talk about the many fairy tale and nursery rhyme references throughout the story and illustrations. They can revisit these with their kids, then go back to the book and talk about the clever way the author and illustrator have played tribute to old favorites. Kids can practice telling their own behind-the-scene stories. (If your kids don't know the stories behind the scenes, you can almost use this book as a bibliography for your next bookshelf tour!)

Message

Social Behavior:

The Big Bad Wolf learns good manners.

Consumerism:

Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:

Violence

Sex

Language

Common Sense says

What's the story?

Reviewed by Dawn Friedman

B.B. Wolf gets invited to the library storytime tea party. Will he remember how to behave?

Is it any good?

5
The picture book industry has taken extra pleasure in going back to old stories and rhymes and infusing them with new life. In fact the practice has gotten so common that separating the good from the not-so-good can get pretty tiresome. Story time readers needn't worry with this book, as it successfully riffs on the Big Bad Wolf legend in a way that every preschooler will find amusing.

Sierra knows her audience, refusing the temptation to be too sly and keeping her references within the realm of little kid understanding. At the same time, the illustrations have enough inside jokes that bigger kids (not to mention parents) will have a great time digging in to see how many mentions of other stories and rhymes they can find.

Speaking of illustrations, the swirly, saturated computer graphics are a perfect mesh with the story. Stylized and detailed, it's the kind of picture book that invites multiple visits to its pages.

Kids will identify with B.B. Wolf's worries and will appreciate the addition of a new friend, an understanding crocodile who helps B.B. figure out how to comport himself at the library tea party. And there's quite a happy-ending payoff, too.

Other choices

New Takes on Old Tales:
The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! by Jon Scieszka
The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas
The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon by Ruth Gross

More Books on Manners:
Emily's Everyday Manners by Peggy Post et al.
Whoopi's Big Book of Manners by Whoopi Goldberg

More Large Animals in Libraries:
Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen

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Review It
Which fantasy book creature has the best name?
Fluffy (3-headed dog, Harry Potter)
33%
Mister Grin (giant crocodile, Peter and the Starcatchers)
17%
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0%
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8%
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42%
12 votes