Synopsis: Herb has to think fast to outwit two very unsavoury wolves that escape from his bedtime story to gobble him up. He enlists the help of the Fairy Godmother with disastrous but hilarious results!

Review: This brilliant book continues and extends Lauren child’s inventive repertoire. She plays with ideas, genre and language in exciting ways, both acknowledging and subverting the expectations which children have of story. Children will love Herb’s ambivalent attitude towards the wolf. He uses everyday logic to undermine his fears: “You could tell from the picture that toothpaste had never been on his shopping list” but ultimately this is not enough; it is in fact unwise to switch on the light because his fears are realised rather than diminished. When Herb turns to story to save him and pulls the jelly off the page, he sets loose a whole new series of subversive events. The wicked fairy’s commentary on Hansel and Gretel explains her motivation for interfering while the fairy godmother’s intervention messes up Cinderella’s story and sends the wolf in her place to the ball. Like Lauren Child, young readers will revel in the intertextual fun to be had with this story and enjoy the re-readings which reveal further jokes, subversions and possibilities.

2006-11-03