The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Hennessy, B.G. (2006). The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Illus. Boris Kolikov. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster.

Brief Annotation: This is a retelling of the classic story, The Boy Who Cried Wolf. The shepherd is bored while watching his sheep, so he creates excitement by yelling, “Wolves are attacking my sheep!” The whole town comes to help, but there are no wolves to be seen. The shepherd yells the next and the next day that wolves are attacking his sheep when there aren’t any wolves attacking. However, on the next day, three giant wolves do attack his sheep but no one comes when he yells because they don’t believe him; the shepherd is left alone to gather his sheep.

Genre: Fable

Grade Level: Pre-K- 3

Readers who will like this: Children who love excitement and the thrill of seeing how the shepherd handles his boring job.

Response/Rating (1-4): **** I highly enjoyed this book because the shepherd is such a little kid as he becomes bored with his chore of watching his sheep and wants excitement so he creates lies. The illustrations are wonderfully illustrated for children as they show the childish side of the shepherd.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: What do you think will happen to this boy who lies about wolves attacking his sheep?