Synopsis: Mr Wolf fancies some tasty pancakes but he doesn’t know how to make them. Asking his neighbours is no use – they’re a mean and horrible lot who refuse to help. Poor Mr Wolf. He has to work it out all by himself. So what happens when these nasty neighbours want to help Mr Wolf eat his delicious pancakes…?

Review: Mr Wolf wants to make pancakes, but his rude and uncooperative neighbours are not willing to help him. Wee Willie Winkie, the Gingerbread man, Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs all give him the brush-off, so in the end the Wolf has to make the pancakes himself. However when it comes to eating them it’s a different story…now everyone wants the PANCAKES! Its time for Mr Wolf to get revenge…

Mr Wolfs Pancakes by Jan Fearnley takes traditional fairy tale characters and gives them a ‘modern’ touch. This enables the younger readers to easily identify with the problems encountered by Mr Wolf. However, children might need some gentle prompts to remind of other stories featuring the wolf..

The book is delightfully illustrated; it subverts the image of big bad wolf, turning him into the victim, until the hilarious denouement, which, on reading it for the first time had me creased up in laughter. The illustrations are comical and the perfect timing of these amke a classic picturebook. While ounger children will enjoy the quick, pleasant nature of the story, older children may require more action and be able to anticipate the ending. 

This book comes with a CD, which may encourage reluctant readers and also develop language for the EAL learners. It also makes this book great for journeys. The CD contains over 35 minutes of audio entertainment, including story reading, soundtrack, a song and lots of readalong fun, all voiced by Nigel Planer.

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2008-07-13