Good Little Wolf Read online

  THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK

  PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

  Copyright © 2011 by Nadia Shireen

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in hardcover in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of the Random House Group Limited, London. Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 978-0-375-86904-4 (trade) — ISBN 978-0-375-96904-1 (lib. bdg.)

  ISBN 978-0-375-98725-0 (ebook)

  The illustrations in this book were created using pencil, ink,

  collage, and digital rendering.

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  the right to read.

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Copyright

  Interior

  Are we all sitting comfortably?

  Then let’s begin . . .

  Rolf and Mrs. Boggins were best friends.

  “You really are a good little wolf,” Mrs. Boggins told him.

  Rolf liked being a good little wolf.

  He liked baking tasty cakes.

  He ate up all his vegetables.

  And he was always nice to his friends.

  But Mrs Boggins also said that not all wolves were good. In fact, some were downright bad.

  Rolf hoped he would never bump into a big bad wolf.

  “Now what do we have here?” said the Big Bad Wolf.

  “You LOOK like a wolf . . .”

  “You FEEL like a wolf . . .”

  “You SMELL like a wolf . . .”

  “That’s because I AM a wolf,” piped up Rolf.

  “I’m a very good little wolf.”

  “Good?” said the Big Bad Wolf.

  “Wolves aren’t good! Wolves are BIG and BAD.”

  “Real wolves howl at the moon!” hooted the Big Bad Wolf. “Real wolves blow houses in! Real wolves eat people up!”

  “Well,” said Rolf. “I am a real wolf. And I’m sure I can do all of those things.”

  So Rolf tried to howl at the moon. He pursed his lips, took a deep breath, and out came a great big . . . whistle.

  Then Rolf went to see Little Pig. “Do you mind if I blow your house in?” asked Rolf.

  “You can try, I suppose,” said Little Pig.

  So he huffed . . .

  And he puffed . . .

  But it was no use.

  “I’m sorry, Rolf,” said Little Pig.

  “You’re right!” said Rolf sadly. “I’m just not bad enough to be a real wolf.”

  “Well . . . there is one last thing you can do to prove you’re a proper wolf,” said the Big Bad Wolf.

  And suddenly, something quite strange came over Rolf. He felt an unfamiliar, wild feeling growing inside him . . .

  Rolf had never felt more like a wolf. “See? I am a proper wolf. I just happen to be a GOOD little wolf,” said Rolf.

  “This calls for a celebration!” cried Mrs Boggins. And they all sat down for some tea and cake.

  “Will you stop eating people up, Big Bad Wolf?” asked Rolf.

  “Oh, I suppose so,” said the Big Bad Wolf . . .

  “I’ll stop first thing tomorrow.”

  The end.

  For my mum and in memory of my dad. With love x

 

 

  Nadia Shireen, Good Little Wolf

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