Review of Yo, Hungry Wolf! A Nursery Rap

Bibliography

Vozar, David, Yo, Hungry Wolf! A Nursery Rap. Illustrated by Betsy Lewin. New York City: Bantum Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc, 1995. ISBN 0440409535


Plot Summary

Yo, Hungry Wolf is based on 3 nursery rhymes, The 3 Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood and The Boy Who Cried Wolf.  The wolf is hungry and is looking for a meal.  He fails to capture the 3 pigs and moves on to a sassy and smart Red Riding Hood who isn’t fooled by his attempt to pretend to be grandma.  A man with an ax chases him out and into the bakery of the boy who cried wolf too many times and the wolf is able to finally get his meal by eating all the donuts.  


Critical Analysis

The book is brightly colored with large watercolor illustrations on every page.  The wolf is desperate for a meal.  The illustrations portray him very thin with oversized clothes.  Red Riding Hood is the gem of the book.  She’s modern, smart, and sassy so that she harmonizes with the rapping rhyme.  No naive little miss here.  She is illustrated with her hand on her hip and it cocked out to the side.  She’s winking at the audience as to say he isn’t fooling me.  Vozar does a wonderful job of combining all three wolf stories with the common theme of the wolf looking for a meal.  The rap flows from page to page and is very entertaining.


Awards and Excerpts

1994 Children’s Choice Award

Publisher's Weekly:   Vozar is at his most ingenious in “The Hungry Wolf,'' where short, snappy verses alternate with longer ones to create a rousing rap rhythm

School Library Journal: “The premise is winning and the rap never falters”


Connections

Split the group into 3 smaller groups and have each group perform/sing one of the 3 stories.

Take another traditional tale like Jack and the Beanstalk, Princess and the Pea or Mary had a Little Lamb and create your own modern rap version.

Betsy Lewin also illustrated the 2001 Caldecott Honor book,  Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type