Reviews

Wolves by Emily Gravett

jennybeastie's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

It's a brilliant book, but a little too upsetting for me.

skundrik87's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

loved it, but there are a couple of detachable pieces that might be inclined to go missing.

jmanchester0's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Wolves was different and creative (which is always nice for a children's book), if a slight bit disturbing. (Though much less than [b:Dinner Time|10253248|Dinner Time Mini|Jan PieЃгkowski|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328018937s/10253248.jpg|15153442].) The ending was pretty funny. Overall: recommended.

wordnerd153's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

A simple story with an unexpected and funny ending. It was difficult to tell if an actual wolf was tailing the rabbit or if the rabbit was imagining a wolf while reading.

skrajewski's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Adorable

ellalouise99's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Interactive book with lots of parts children can look at such as envelopes with letters in. The story is quite informative however children may get upset even with the alternative ending which the book ends with.

raoionna's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

This cute book is a play on the negative imagery of wolves. That said, like many wolf tales this one has a dark ending.

brookecorrea's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

"Wolves" tells the immersive tale of a rabbit who checks out a library book about wolves and learns about the creatures while increasingly becoming a part of the informative literature itself. Emily Gravett writes and illustrates the story in comprehensive but diversifying ways: the text is written in third person narrative and follows the tone of an informative piece of writing, while the illustrations offer a much more immersive experience as they mimic the text in both the illustrations of the book that Rabbit reads and Rabbit's experience outside of the library book.
Framing and positioning of text plays an important role in the construction of narrative in this book. The illustrations of Rabbit's outside world, which exist without framing, are shown alongside the illustrations of the book that Rabbit reads, which is framed in a way that distinguishes the book from the outside world. In the beginning of the story, when Rabbit first begins reading the library book "Wolves", the book itself is framed and offset to the left of the unframed illustration of Rabbit, which shows him walking along and reading the book. The next page of the book reveals the next page of Rabbit's book, which is still framed but takes up a larger portion of the page. As the story goes on, and Rabbit reads deeper into "Wolves", the framing of his book gets increasingly larger until the outline of the book goes beyond the boundaries of the pages and is no longer distinguishable from Rabbit's real world. The text on these pages is positioned only on the pages of the book that Rabbit reads and therefore only contains informative information about Wolves. When Rabbit reads about what wolves like to eat it becomes clear that Rabbit is, in fact, a vital character in the story about wolves and not simply just a reader - as the framing reappears momentarily on the very edge of the right page, encompassing the rabbit into the story entirely alongside the wolf. The story appears to end abruptly at this point as the next page shows the remains of Rabbit's library book. However, a scrap of paper is illustrated on the right side of the perceived-ending that states a continuation in the story if the reader wishes for an alternative ending. The following page is formally unframed, but the illustrations appear to be constructed together with bits of paper, framing each illustration in with the edges of torn paper, implying a sense of invalidity to the alternate ending of the story. The text of the story on this page also exists on a torn scrap piece of paper.
Line and color also offer insight into the narrative of the story that both the physical reader reads and the story that the rabbit reads. The pages of Rabbit's book "Wolves" are stark white and stand out against Rabbit's physical world which is represented with a yellowish background. Rabbit, himself, is illustrated as off-white, with bits of colorful lines in the shading of his fur. The illustrations of the book he reads are entirely black and white, while the cover of the book is a deep, solid red. Along with his coloring, Rabbit is drawn with sketchy outlines and a bit of crosshatching shading. The illustrations in his book also reflect this type of line - sketchy and incomplete - differentiating both Rabbit and the wolf illustrations from the solid and complete lines of the book itself and, in turn, creating a sense of relationship between Rabbit and the story he reads.
These comparative relationships are not just apparent in the representation of the rabbit's physical world and the world of the book he reads - they are also present in the construction of Gravett's picturebook itself. In the hardcover edition of the book, the endpapers in the inside covers have the same illustrated pattern as the endpapers of the book that Rabbit reads. The physical book underneath the white jacket also reveals a correlation between the actual-book and Rabbit's book: both are a deep and solid red with bold, black letters entitling the stories "WOLVES".
In a sense, this book is a book inside a book, inside a book. The story of Rabbit is the same: he exists in one world, his own, but then in another as he becomes a part of the story he reads, and in another as he is represented in the actual-book by Emily Gravett. The multifaceted story is, overall, a complexly interwoven work of literature that reads like a children's book and instills like a classic.

blossom717's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

This book is an award winner. The rabbit is reading a book that gives facts about wolves. The facts are actual information that would be useful for students. Can be used for connections and prediction. The prediction is fulfilled but then changed in a silly manner.