Friday, September 27, 2013

Book Review: Little Wolf's Diary of Daring Deeds by Ian Whybrow

Here's a review of the second volume in this very nifty book series.
 
 
 
Little Wolf is planning to open an Adventure Academy where his(late) Uncle Bigbad's Cunning College once was, and is pleased for his joke-loving cousin Yeller(named for his REALLY LOUD VOICE!*) to come join him. Unfortunately, he soon becomes doubly disappointed when not only do his parents decide not to come stay with them, but his little brother Smellybreff does. Now, LW had indicated several times in the previous book that he didn't like Smellybreff very much, and in this volume we truly see why. Smells is the most whiny, bossy, greedy, pesky, ill-mannered little brat you'd ever care to meet!(And those are just some of his good points! :-D) His parents, very obliviously however, think that Smells is cute and can do no wrong, possibly indicating that his misdeeds occur in their absence.

 
 


Eventually, LW and his friends get a call from a Mister Marvo who agrees to help them set up the attractions at Adventure Academy; unfortunately, little do they know that he's actually Mister Twister the fox, Uncle Bigbad's former business partner and master of disguise, who cubnaps Smellybreff and steals Uncle Bigbad's treasure. Now it's up to Little, Yeller, and their new travelling buddy Stubbs the crow(known for mostly saying "Ark" with a few other words, occasionally) to save the little pest.


Along the way, they face off with a mountain lion, explore several strange towns, climb the Grim Mountains, visit a hot springs, charter a boat, and encounter a friendly(and very helpful) group of whales. Will they be able to rescue Smells and retrieve the treasue before it's too late?

 
 
My thoughts: Although this book had its interesting moments, I personally didn't think it was one of this series' stronger entries. To be fair, its purpose seemed to be mainly to establish the characters and storyline for the series in general. Out of fairness also, the crew's adventures and the locations they visit are quite interesting, and there are some good moments of character development as the crew attempt to overcome their worst fears: Stubbs' fear of flying, LW's fear of loud noises, and Yeller's fear of snow and cold weather(The latter being because the cold weakens his voice).
 
My only real major beef with this book was:
 
Mister Twister's sudden villain status; in the previous book, he was a good guy, and even warned LW not to trust Uncle Bigbad. Granted, the series did need an antagonist, but still.
 
Despite its minor flaws, this book is by no means terrible. In fact, it's a very good, fun, and very well-written book with many memorable characters. A must have for any Little Wolf fan.
 
 
 
 
 
 
*In this respect, he takes after Uncle Bigbad a little bit.


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