Through the Woods to Bubbe's Cottage: Little Red Ruthie--A Hanukkah Tale by Gloria Koster

Little Ruthie is merry. It's cold and snowy outside, but wearing her poofy red parka with its cozy hood, she sets out through the woods to her Bubbe's house, thinking warm thoughts and carrying a basket with sour cream and applesauce for the special latkes she and her grandmother always make during Hanukkah.

All is merry and bright as Little Red Ruthie skips through the forest until, as it starts snowing heavily, she makes a wrong turn on the path.

RUTHIE FINDS HERSELF FACE TO FACE WITH A WOLF!

"LITTLE GIRL, I'M GOING TO EAT YOU UP!" SAID THE WOLF.

BUT IT WAS HANUKKAH. RUTHIE WANTED TO BE AS BRAVE AS THE MACCABEES!

Ruthie knows she must also be clever, so she opens her coat and shows the wolf how skinny she is, but promises that after she eats lots of latkes for the next eight days, she'll make a much bigger meal.

"I'LL BE AS ROUND AS A PANCAKE THEN!"

The wolf agrees to the deal, but stealthily takes a shortcut to Bubbe's cottage. On the door there is a message from Bubbe' for Ruthie, saying she is shopping for a Hanukkah treat and will be back shortly. The wolf tries to door and, finding it unlocked, goes inside to wait for both of them to return, amusing himself while he waits by trying on Bubbe's best dresses. But Ruthie arrives before Bubbe and has to be both brave and clever. She offers to make the wolf some fine latkes as hors d'oeuvres before the feast. The wolf says he's too hungry to wait for her to fry the latkes in oil.

"SKIP THE FRYING!" HE GROWLS.

But Ruthie insists on telling the story about why the oil is the most important part of Hanukkah, and the ravenous wolf eats latkes as fast as little Ruthie can fry them up. In fact, by the time Bubbe returns, the wolf is no longer hungry at all.

In fact, he's feeling quite BARFY!

Notice: No little girls or innocent grandmothers are harmed in Gloria Koster's jolly holiday parody of the Little Red Riding Hood tale, Little Red Ruthie: A Hanukkah Tale (Albert Whitman).

This lighthearted spoof of the popular Red Riding Hood trope lends itself well to the story of Hanukkah and the reason latkes are the festive food for this holiday. Jolly illustrations by Sue Eastland extend the droll text with great good humor in which even the wolf is funny. For sophisticated primary students who know their December celebrations, share this one with Eric Kimmel's and Trina Schart Hyman's Caldecott-winning Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins: 25th Anniversary Edition. And for more tasty Hanukkah stories for the season, here's a virtual platter from which you can help yourself to all you want here.

The Wolf at the Door! The Wolf Will Not Come by Myriam Ouyessad

It's bedtime and Mama Rabbit is trying to tuck in Little Rabbit, but the windows are dark and scary. And Little Rabbit seems to have the wolf-at-the-door willies.

"Are you sure the wolf will not come?" he asks.

"There are no more wolves. The hunters have chased them all away!"

But little Rabbit is not so easily convinced. What if one wolf sneaked through the forest and into the woods nearby? What if he were sneaky enough to make his way to the Rabbit's street by pretending to be a dog? What if he dodged all the cars and made his way through the maze of streets to the Rabbits' apartment door?

"He could not get in. The wolf does not know the code to the door," Mama points out.

"Father Pinaud has the code," Little Rabbit persists. "Also, he never notices anything!"

Mama seems to be getting exasperated with all this wily wolf talk. After all, wolves don't take elevators to the fifth floor of apartment buildings.

"Listen, Rabbit," says Mama. "Even if a wolf came up the elevator, he would not get in here. Good night, my rabbit!"

Mama Wolf gives him a final firm kiss, turns off the light, and closes Little Rabbit's bedroom door.

But then there is a knock ...

In Myriam Ouyessad's hilarious tale of a unlikely wolf at the door, The Wolf Will Not Come (Schiffer Publishing, 2019), the wolf turns out to be an expected but early guest to Rabbit's birthday party. Little Rabbit bounces out of his bedroom to open the door and hugs the wolf!

"I was sure you would come!"

All ends well with with an apparently well-planned birthday party, with balloons and banners and a big birthday cake. Author Myriam Ouyessad sets this story up cleverly, with Rabbit and Mama Rabbit pictured, spot-art style,  on the verso pages and the wolf's covert progress from woods through city streets to elevator shown full-page on the recto. Mama Rabbit calmly deadpans all the reasons why a wolf will not find his way to their door, while artist Ronan Badel's illustrations portray the stealthy wolf's progress from woods to party which fill the recto pages. Youngsters will love the closing twist, ending with a beautifully wrapped wolf toy for Rabbit and a hug and big slice of birthday cake for Wolf. A tongue-in-cheek birthday tale that leaves a very sweet taste!

The Wolf Within: Moon by Alison Oliver

Moon is a very busy girl. Her daily to-do list is daunting.

STUFF TO DO

• homework
• clean my room
• soccer practice
• trumpet lesson
• math tutor
• stuff and more stuff
• blah, blah, blah

Moon is dutiful and does it all. But she can't help wishing she didn't have to. She wonders what it would be like to leave all that behind.

One night she wanders out into the garden and in awe watches a shooting star. The star is a catalyst that sends her into the woods, barefoot, in search of something, something else stirring in the dark.

Paw prints! Wild.

Following the prints she finds a friendly gray wolf who takes her up upon his back and flies into the Great Forest, where in a clearing Moon is greeted by the whole pack.

She asked them to show her the wolfy ways.

Moon learns to pounce and play, and how to howl at the moon. And especially she learns the skill of being still and listening. Wearing a crown of flowers, Moon feels happy in the wild and at one with the forest. But the enchantment ends suddenly, as far away she hears a different sort of howl--her mother, looking for her.

So Moon goes back, back to her home and back to school the next day, but she's not the same. She still wears her emblematic garland and remembers the peace of being wild and wolfy, in Alison Oliver's forthcoming Moon (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2018), and she secretly shares her experience with her friends.

The English poet William Wordsworth said it well long ago:

"The world is too much with us, late and soon.
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.
Little we see in nature that is ours."

And author-illustrator Alison Oliver has the same advice--"Get out and get under the moon!" as she sets a trancelike scene for her fantastical tale of wilding oneself. Moon is purple with long, black hair, and there is a spare, dreamy look to Oliver's evocative illustrations executed in a palette of green, purple, black, and white with childlike images. This parable of finding the wild within. in which both sides of our human nature--the maker who uses nature and the spirit who seeks relief in nature, is made clear in simple words and images in this moving picture book.