The Boy Who Cried Wolf - B. G Hennessy

Illustrator: Boris Kulikov
For: Kids
Published: 2006
Rating: Fun
Read: January, 2009
Endpapers: Different parts of the whimsical sheep in rought circles, bugs & butterflies...

This is the standard Boy Who Cried Wolf story with the added benefit of really great illustrations - and font! It's called "Uncle Stinky" font. I always like the special touch of a snazzy font.

Okay, this boy is really bored tending the sheep on the hillside (you can see the village in the distance). He tries to enlist the sheep to play with him, but all they really want to do is chew on grass, although they go along with him a bit. I love his dirty bare feet, the fly that keeps landing on his nose, the attitude of the sheep that you can SEE in the illustrations. He loves it when he cries "wolf" and the whole town comes running. A friend stays to hang out with him for the rest of the day. So he tries it again. And when a wolf really does come skulking, of course, the townsfolk ignore him. At the very end, after the wolf is gone, the boy goes looking for the sheep and they're all clinging togethr in the top of a tree. Really fun stuff.

I read it aloud to my fifth graders during our Aesop unit, showing them who you can take a bare-bones fable and simply by adding detailed illustrations, you have a great read. It's all in the details! ! ! !