Losing El Lobo: The Three Little Tamales by Eric Kimmel

One day three little tamales saw a tortilla rolling by. "Where are you going" they asked.

"I'm running away," the tortilla told them, "If I stay here, someone's going to eat me. You'll be eaten, too. You'd better run."

"We don't want to be eaten," the three little tamales said. They jumped out the window and ran down the road before anyone knew they were gone."

You probably think you know where this one is going, right? The proprietors of the taqueria are going to give chase, joined by assorted hungry farmers and school children, until the little tamales take a trip across el rio on the back of a tricky fox and become his own tasty tamale treat. Pero, NO!

Eric Kimmel refuses to follow the familiar Gingerbread Boy scenario in his latest folktale adaptation. Instead, in un momento we find ourselves in another famous format. The three tamales find their own new homes--the first in a house built of prairie sagebrush, the second in an elegant hut of rustling cornstalks, and the third and most provident little tamale continues on until she reaches a grove of saguaro cactus.

"Cactus will make a strong house. The thorns will protect me," the third little tamale said.

She slept soundly that night, protected by cactus.

And by now kids listening and reading this one will be picking up this another familiar plot line and they will know that when they turn the next page, there is going to be a hungry wolf in the picture.

And it seems El Lobo has already learned his lines as well...

"Senora Tamale,
por favor,
I want to come in,
so open the door.

I'll huff and puff
like a Texas tornado
and blow your casita
from here to Laredo."

Of, course, the frightened tamale takes off for the shelter of her brother's cornstalk crib, where the huff-and-puff scenario is repeated. And then, at last, El Lobo arrives, hassled and still hungry before the cactus castle of the third little tamale and repeats his rude request, with a similar response.

"Senor Lobo, muy guapo,
I'm sorry to say,
I won't let you in,
so please go away."

As you might predict, the encounter escalates when Senor Lobo, unable to blow down the cactus casita, leaps to the roof and with a loud "AY! AY! AY!" as his paws are pierced by the thorns, delivers his ultimatum and starts down the chimney-- landing (you guessed it) right in a conveniently provided pot of boiling water.

"Let me out!, Senor Lobo howled.

"No, we can't," the three little tamales replied. "We're cooking wolf tamales for dinner!"

I don't want to be a tamale!" Senor Lobo yelled.

Of course, El Lobo finds he has a pressing engagement elsewhere and is soon out of sight and seen no more by the tres tamales, who are now free to have a fiesta with all the tortillas in town in attendance!

Eric Kimmel, whose wonderful way with a folktale goes way back to his top-selling Anansi and the Moss-covered Rock, uses the southwestern scene to add a taste of salsa to this time-proven tale. In his latest Three Little Tamales, (Marshall Cavendish, 2009) Kimmel passes on the porkers in the original tale and picks a picaresque parody set, as in his earlier The Runaway Tortilla, at a Texas taqueria. Kids will pick right up on the compare-and-contrast variations, and aided by Valeria Docampo's spicy illustrations, will soon be repeating the refrain right along with the narrator in this made-to-be-read-aloud version of an old favorite con mucho gusto!

An introductory glossary with pronunciation guide makes the occasional light use of Spanish in Kimmel's tasty text easily understandable for the reader.

EWE-nique Disguise: The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing by Helen Lester and Lynn Munsinger

The comic team of Lester and Munsinger are back with a tale of the wild and the woolly, starring a ewe-nique ewe who seems to have been born to be an, um, clothes horse.

Ewetopia is a young ewe who just is not comfortable in her basic wool. But trying out one outrageous outfit after another gets her no notice from the flock. The rams--Rambunctious, Ramshackle, and Ramplestiltskin-- say bl-a-a-h, and the ewes--Ewecalyptus, Ewetensil, and Heyewe--just say b-a-a-a!

Finally, though, for the grand Woolyone's Costume Ball, Ewetopia hits upon the most ewe-nique costume of all--that of a wily wolf.

This was the one! Ewereka!

She loved the warmth of the fur. The shine of the fangs. And especially the way the long-clawed paws swung attractively when she walked. Everyone would notice her now!

Just as Ewetopia begins to wonder why the woolly dancers aren't thrilled with the sight of a sheep in wolf's clothing in the midst of their merrymaking, a handsome figure enters the ballroom:

A handsome stranger, a charming sheepish grin, and wool so lovely, it looked fake.

It looks fake because it is, for beneath the fulsome fleece, Ewetopia realizes, is concealed--a real wolf, a veritable wolf in sheep's clothing.

But at last, someone notices her costume. "Mother!" exclaims the wolf, mistaking Ewetopia for his mom. "I thought you were away on a lamb hunt!"

Soon the wolf rips off his disguise, ready to begin his own lamb hunt! Thinking fast, Ewetopia comes up with a couple of "motherly" requests guaranteed to get rid of any young wolf in a hurry!

"First, my son," she growls, "you must take a bath, clean your claws, and brush your fangs."

The wolf moaned, "Aw, Maaaaaaa!"

"After that you must do your homework, all of it," Ewetopia added gruffly.

"Then, sonny boy, you must pick up your room."

With that threat hanging over his head, the wolf is out of there in two shakes of a sheep's tail.

And Ewetopia is at last the bellwether of the ball!

In The Sheep in Wolf's Clothing Helen Lester and Lynn Munsinger prove that they can still charm a chuckle out of the picture book set with this punny story of an un-ewesual ewe. Munsinger's costumed ballgoers, dressed as Elvis imitators, bikers, Easter Bunnies, caped crusaders, and Santas, are appropriately appreciative as Ewetopia ewe-tilizes her wit to free their fleeces. It's a good-time romp is the jolly spirit of this team's earlier hits, Hooway for Wodney Wat and Tacky the Penguin (Sandpiper Books).