Bénédicte Guettier
(Gecko Press)
Je m’habille et … je te croque, translated from the French by Pénélope Todd
Guettier was a big presence in my children’s early experiences with books and it is a pleasure to see her translated into English.
Inspired by the French comptine (song/nursery rhyme) Promenons-nous dans les bois (you will plenty of renditions of it on youtube) this very simple book follows a wolf as he gets dressed, item by item, before he comes to “get” the little readers. Interestingly, the original title hints at the wolf eating the little reader, and this has been “toned down” for English speaking audiences. Perfect for learning about different items of clothing and helping young children to learn a dressing-up routine (parents will know that children don’t always do that in the right order!). This book is in fact used in many nursery schools across France to support language acquisition and comprehension on this subject. But this aside, it is also a fabulous tale which will have little readers screeching at the last page. Guettier’s artwork, bold and bright, is perfect for toddlers and her simple narrative (one sentence per double page) will allow even the youngest readers to sit through storytime. The small format of this board book makes particularly toddler-friendly and the sturdiness of the pages is such the books feels next to indestructible, and parents of toddlers will know just how important that is!
The use of the double-page (portrait rather than landscape) is ingenious and makes the wolf all the more ominous.
You can see this from the illustrations: the dotted line shows the gutter of the book:
Sometimes the simplest of stories make the best kind of read-aloud. I Am The Wolf … and Here I Come is exactly that kind of book and has the makings of a becoming a bedtime favourite. Expect plenty of “Again!”
Buy I Am The Wolf … and Here I Come here
All illustrations © Bénédicte Guettier
Source: review copy from Bounce Marketing
Interesting to read about its origins and perhaps darker original. I really love this book.
Yes, the song goes “let’s go walk in the woods while the wolf isn’t there. If the wolf there i would eat it us up …. Wolf where, are you? Do you hear me?” and the wolf replies “I am putting on my socks” etc until the last sentence when it says “I am coming to get you”. I sang it to my two when they were little 🙂