Little Good Wolf

What happens when an irrepressibly good-hearted wolf is born into a lupine family of the big bad variety? Little Good Wolf, his mother says disgustedly, “cleans his room. He brushes his teeth. He even reads bedtime stories by himself!” So his snappish parents send him to the Big Bad School, a dodgy institution rife with bad puns (“Prince A. Bull” oversees the education), gross-out humor (“Eat it fast so you can buuurrrrp!” says a troll instructor, demolishing a pizza), and more. Throughout his lessons, Little Good Wolf makes suggestions that lend themselves to order and cheer (“You could light a cake full of birthday candles,” he says to a fire-breathing dragon), quickly resulting in his expulsion. In a strongly felt fairy tale remix about a child who just wants his parents to love him as he is, all the over-the-top resistance Little Good Wolf endures makes his anodyne suggestions winningly palatable. Previous collaborators Crummel and Stevens (The Donkey Egg) cram each page with raillery and nonsense (when Little Good Wolf is happily reunited with his parents, they insist they’ve reformed: “I combed my teeth,” Papa Wolf says). Stevens, meanwhile, brings naturalistic draftsmanship to the characters while draping them in a hodgepodge of finery. Ages 4–7. (Aug.)