Woolly Bully! SHEEPISH (Wolf Under Cover) by Helen Yoon

SHHH! I'M PRETENDING TO BE A SHEEP!

A wolf in an obviously homemade woolly costume siddles his way into the school playground of little lambs who, although of, er, tender years, are smart enough to recognize the big kid with the long shaggy tail and pointy ears in line in the cafeteria. The wolf's menu aspirations are for roast lamb, and despite the savviest young sheep cowering under the tray line, he thinks his disguise is perfect. He decides to bide his time, ingratiating himself by chowing down on okra, and helping do up the lunchroom dishes and baking the bread in the kitchen, all the while dreaming of roast lamb, kabobs, and lamb-burgers.

"NOBODY SUSPECTS A THING!"

The wolf even reads the little lambs bedtime stories, and as he joins them in the dormitory, his plan is almost complete--until one sweet little lambkin gives him a bedtime kiss. AWWWWWW! So sweet!

"NOPE! I CAN'T DO IT!"

Will the wolf give up drooling over lamb stew and take up schooling with the little lambs in Helen Yoon's latest, Sheepish (Wolf Under Cover) (Candlewick Press, 2021)? It's the classic "wolf in sheep's clothing" tale, with a twist, in which the big, would-be bad wolf finds that he actually likes living with the sheep. Can this villain really make the switch and go vegan? Noted author-illustrator Helen Yoon has another laugh-out-loud fractured folktale about everyone's favorite storybook woolly bully, a villain turned into an old vegetarian softie! Says Booklist's starred review, "Amusing and endearing in equal measure, the detailed mixed-media illustrations use light beautifully in the outdoor scenes and effectively in the cafeteria-line picture, where the wolf’s shadow reveals his identity."

Wolf In Sheep's Clothing? Brenda Is A Sheep by Morag Hood

BRENDA HAS A VERY NICE WOOLY SWEATER.

BRENDA DOES ALL THE THINGS SHEEP DO.

BECAUSE... BRENDA IS A...

Well, we'll reserve judgment on that right now.

Brenda loves to hang out with the flock of sheep. She teaches them to play cool games like catch and tag, and tooth sharpening. She loves playing tag the most, but it seems she never catches a single sheep. Still Brenda doesn't quit trying.

THE SHEEP THINK BRENDA IS REALLY THE BEST SHEEP THEY HAVE EVER SEEN.

She's so tall and has such pointy teeth, and her knit sweater is so stylish. Although they already have woolly coats, they all wear sweaters just like Brenda's.

However, they fail to notice the book that Brenda carries everywhere--101 SHEEP RECIPES. They don't even have a clue when she stews up a huge pot of mint into a sauce for what she believes is going to be a big feast on the morrow. The sheep can hardly wait!

Brenda tucks the flock of sheep into their beds, and finally lies down herself, sure that her plans are well in place.

Has Brenda pulled the wool over their eyes? Is she the perfect wolf in sheep's clothing?

There's a surprise ending in store in Morag Hood's Brenda is a Sheep (Random House, 2020). Brenda sleeps well, believing she'll be feasting on the morrow on, er, sheep-bone marrow, but she wakes to find a feast the moon-lighting sheep have prepared for her--grass stew, pie, burgers, lasagna, sausages, and even grass cookies. and when she realizes what the friendly sheep have done for her, Brenda feels quite sheepish and seems to have decided it's time to adopt vegetarianism. This picture book is recommended for preschoolers, but it's likely that slightly older kids, who've heard a few more Big Bad Wolf stories, will find this one even funnier.

I Yam Who I Yam! You Loves Ewe! by Cece Bell

"Hey, donkeys!" says Donkey.

It's a lovely bucolic scene. Sheep is grazing, and Yam the grammarian-in-chief is pontificating, as usual.

Yam points out that neither of them is a donkey. He himself is a yam and his herbivorous companion is a fluffy ewe, doing what ewes do best--look cute and eat grass.

But Donkey doesn't do homonyms.

"I yam confused. Yam I yam, or yam I ain't, cute and fluffy?"

Yam gives it another try, explaining that the grammatical way to pose that question would be "Am I cute and fluffy?"

Donkey looks at Yam and doesn't bother being polite.

You is short and lumpy.

Sheep tries to help out by holding up her hand-written placard that says EWE. Donkey corrects Yam's pronunciation, pointing out that EWE spells EE-WEE! Yam goes into his standard lecture on homonyms, words that sound alike but have different meanings: Doe and Dough, Hair and Hare, etc., etc., etc.!

And if you think this grammar lesson is going nowhere, just wait until Ram makes his entrance and is struck instantly with Ewe's woolly charms. Now everyone is in love with Ewe. What to do?

But while Donkey is a bit dense with homonyms, he gets affairs of the heart. He points out that Ewe gets to choose. Does Ewe love Ram? She spells it out for them all.

"EYE DEW."

It's the wonderful world of wordplay, in Cece Bell's forthcoming easy reader, You Loves Ewe! (A Yam and Donkey Book) in this semi-educational sequel to her first comical Yam and Donkey story, I Yam a Donkey! (A Yam and Donkey Book), specializing in some of the goofier aspects of our native language (just be glad he didn't work in the homonym YEW into the text), while her delightfully daffy black line cartoon illustrations make the best of this woolly-headed tale of the fine points of our mother tongue. After all, we English speakers do specialize in puns.

Ewer kids are gonna love it!

Sheepish? Who's Sheepish? Sheep Dog and Sheep Sheep by Eric Barclay

Sheep loves to dance. She knows all kinds of fancy dancing...

... the Wildflower Dance..., ... the Get This Spider Off of Me Dance...

and of course... the Pee-Pee Dance.

And sometimes in her ecstasy she closes her eyes and... bumps into things.

And one day she bumps into a very hairy dog.

"I'm the sheep dog," he said. "I watch sheep."

Immediately Sheep Sheep has a bone to pick with Sheep Dog over their respective job descriptions. Sheep insists that as a sheep, she is the expert at sheep watching. She also points out that he can't be much of a sheep watcher with all that hair in his face and skips off to the farmhouse for a fetching ribbon to tie his forelock into a dainty topknot.

Sheep Dog has to admit that he can see better with his new hairdo and to prove it, he rescues Sheep Sheep from a diving eagle. As she trips off for some binoculars to improve his vision, Sheep Dog spots another carnivorous critter looking for a tasty lamb chop.

"COYOTE!!!!"

Saved, Sheep Sheep dances off to fetch a map, requiring Sheep Dog to save her again from a breach in the bridge! Oblivious, Sheep Sheep declares Sheep Dog now equipped for sheep-watching duty.
But where are the sheep? Neither of them can spot a single fleece. This lamb is adamant. Now whose fault is that?

"DID YOU LOSE THEM?"

It seems that Sheep Sheep failed to do her due diligence as she looks around and finds that she is indeed a only sheep in this particular pasture, in Eric Barclay's sweet sheep saga, Sheep Dog and Sheep Sheep (HarperCollins, 2019). Barclay's comic and clueless Sheep Sheep is an adorable foil for the dutiful Sheep Dog, devoted to doing his darnedest to protect his little charge, and in this charming little story illustrated by the author, the two emerge as a delightful storybook duo. As School Library Journal puts it, "Barclays's quick-witted text is as endearing as his pastel pencil and Photoshop illustrations..."

Spring Lamb: Furry Lamb by Annie Auerbach

BABY LAMB WANTS TO PLAY.

BUT WITH OTHER LAMBS IS THE VERY BEST WAY.

What do baby lambs do in spring? They follow their mothers, staying close, as they visit the grassy hillside for the first time. They get their first taste of new green grass. And when their tummies are full, it's time to look around.

What do they see? They meet the other lambs--and a few baby goats. It's time to play! Birds are flying and bunnies are hopping, too. The lambs look down the hill to see baby pigs playing in their muddy pens, too. Everyone has something to do.

And after the busy baby lambs play, it's time to curl up in the warm grass beside their mothers for a little nap.

MAMA KNOWS BEST.

Annie Auerbach's soft touch-and-feel tiny board book, Furry Lamb (Mini Friends Touch And Feel) (Barrons, 2018) is a sweet way to learn about baby animals in spring. Little ones can experience the sensation of touching a lamb's soft baby wool and follow the baby lambs on their first day out of the barn. This mini-book makes a good Easter basket stuffer or a first introduction to baby farm animals.

Getting to ZZZZZ! Sheep 101 by Robert Morris

TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM?

Not this kid. He's counting sheep, with not a single yawn yet. Woolly Bully #100 has just sailed over the hurdle, when...

CRASH!

Sheep 101 fails to clear the rails. #102 barely makes it over sheep and railings. Sheesh! Night shifts stink!

"We've got a sheep down!" shouts the dispatcher.

While Sheep 101 is carted off by the Sheep EMR team, a substitute reports for duty.

"WAIT! Who are you?"

"I'm Sheep 103."

"But... you're a COW!"

"Yeah, they ran out of sheep, so they called me. I usually jump over the moon, so this fence should be a breeze!

The rest of the sheep must have signed on with Little Bo Peep for the day shift, because a motley crew of fleeceless critters appear one at a time to take a crack at the fence--PIG, singing WEE WEE WEE, a BLIND MOUSE who can't even find the fence, and who's this? HUMPTY DUMPTY?? Gimme a, er, break!

There's no rest for the sleepless in Robert Morris's sleepytime tale, Sheep 101 (Little, Brown and Company, 2018), with witty dialog by author Morris and comic illustrations by Leuyen Pham that fairly pelt the reader with the sight gags until sweet dreams set in. A wild and woolly fractured folk tale of a story, this one will send kids to sleep with a smile on their faces. As Publishers Weekly puts it, "It's practically guaranteed that readers will go giggling into that good night!"