Book Review:Little Wolf's Book of Badness by Ian Whybrow

Here's my review of the first volume of a good but underappreciated book series.

Who's afraid of Little Wolf? Nobody!(Could have something to do with the fact that he's just sooooo cute!) And this problem is one that his parents plan to remedy by sending him to his famous Uncle Bigbad's college in the Frettning Forest to learn how to be a better(or shoud we say "badder") wolf. (Didn't know there was a right and wrong way to be a wolf, but there it is.)

Along the way, Little Wolf meets his uncle's old business partner(who will become an important character in later books), runs afoul of some birds, meets a certain little girl in a red hood, and befriends a Cub Scout troop who even invite him to stay with them.

  He also has a mishap with a hedgehog.

On top of all this, one also wonders if Uncle Bigbad(who has a REALLY LOUD voice!) really can be trusted...

My thoughts:Overall, this is a good, well-written book; one of the best in the series IMHO. The format it's written in is very clever and unique; it's told from Little Wolf's perspective in a series of letters written home to his parents. (One could possibly call this a "chapter book deconstruction.")

Little Wolf's constant misspellings and coining of words(e.g. "frozz", "fedduply", "lipsmackerous", etc.) add to the humorous nature of the storyline, and Little Wolf himself is a good and interesting character who, despite his mischievous nature, comes off as quite likeable(even sympathetic). A great beginning to a great series; definetly worth a read. (BTW, Little Wolf's little brother Smellybreff and cousin Yeller who are mentioned several times in this book will join Little Wolf on his adventures in later books.)

Buy it on Amazon! 

Book Review:Garfield's Furry Tales by Jim Davis

All right, now for my first non-Pound Puppies book review!

Fairy tales have never been wackier than these, all starring that famous fat cat himself. This book contains five stories:

Garfield and the Three Bears-Garfield, looking for respite from a boring camping trip, wanders across the Three Bears' cottage...and ends up wrecking the place.

Little Red Riding Odie-Jon sends Odie, clad in the appropriate red cape, to his sick Grandma's house with a box of Girl Scout cookies...but a certain someone else is evincing interest in those cookies, too.

Garfield and Penny Henny-Garfield, who's sojourning at Jon's parents' farm, accidentally knocks a corn cob onto a chicken named Penny Henny's head...and decides to have some fun with her. (This story, BTW, was adapted into an episode of The Garfield Show.)

Garfield and the Sleeping Beauty-Arlene(as one might expect) plays the eponymous princess and Garfield plays the prince in this tale of the princess cursed to sleep for a hundred years until awakened by a kiss (There's a movie in here somewhere). 

Garfield and the Beanstalk-Jon trades Odie for a handful of magic beans, which grow into a beanstalk overnight. Garfield climbs the beanstalk and encounters a giant. (Eat your heart out, Mickey Mouse!)

My Thoughts:Overall, a top-notch book. The illustrations(by Mike Fentz) are fantastic, and the writing is well done and very humorous. A must for any Garfield lover.

                                                                 Buy it on Amazon!