When a sheep named Wendy Woolcoat (she resembles an extra-puffy cotton ball with matchstick legs and cocktail-wiener head) rescues a fairy, she's granted a wish. At first, Wendy's stumped, since she loves eating grass and already has ample opportunity to do just that. Sim (Matt's Mat!
) has pointed this out earlier by dividing up one page into 16 frames and showing Wendy eating from almost as many vantage points and venues. The fairy, however, presses Wendy a little harder, and the sheep finally admits that she would love to fly. That night, the sheep sprouts rose-colored wings and a crown of stars, and after an awkward start (she gains altitude upside-down), she attains a goofy grace. She soars around the toy-like world that Sim has created with simple shapes and patterns rendered in thick brushstrokes of bright, saturated acrylics (the typography follows her undulating flight path). In a series of panels, Wendy finishes off the night by dive-bombing a wolf that wants to eat her sleeping comrades. Debut author Symes sometimes describes things when Sim's vivid, naïf pictures say it all—but she's an energetic storyteller with a kid-friendly sense of humor. Ages 3-6. (Oct.)
