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."