The Wolf Who Didn’t Want to Walk Anymore

After a long day of playing in the forest, the wolf at the center of this middling addition to the My Little Picture Books collection proclaims, “I will never walk again!” The narrative follows the wolf through a year of experimenting with other modes of transportation, each resulting in disaster. In January, the wolf “treated himself to a very cool mountain bike” (which quickly gets a flat tire), and a February ski vacation results in the wolf crashing into a tree and incurring multiple injuries. Halfway through, the story shifts gear into full-on fantasy, as the wolf acquires magical boots that enable him to fly (but belong to angry ogres); he later becomes stranded when his horse-drawn carriage turns into a pumpkin. Thuillier’s stylized pictures portray the toothy, baguette-nosed hero’s misadventures with humorous exaggeration, although a scene in which the wolf is tied to a post by tomahawk-wielding “bandits” dressed as Native Americans is an unfortunate (and offensive) misstep. Simultaneously available: Basil Becomes a Big Brother by Armelle Renoult, illus. by Claire Frossard. Ages 4–8. (Nov.)