Nicky and the Big, Bad Wolves

by Valeri Gorbachev

When Nicky the rabbit awakens from a nightmare, his mother is right there to cut his fears down to size. Valeri Gorbachev's adorable illustrations turn Nicky's scary night into a rollicking, reassuring bedtime book that is just right for restless sleepers. Full color.

Genres: Picture Books, Rabbits, Wolves, Spanish Literature, Childrens, Young Adult

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1998

About the author

Valeri Gorbachev is the author and illustrator of a number of children's books, both in the United States and Europe, including Nicky And The Big Bad Wolves and Where is the Apple Pie? Mr. Gorbachev immigrated to the United States from the Ukraine in 1991 and now lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York.

(from harpercollins.com)

Reviews

[Roya · Rating 4 out of 5]

مامان‌ها همیشه قهرمانن😌☝️
ضمن تأکید به اینکه واقعا نقاشی‌های والری گورباچف رو دوست دارم، باید بگم یه کشتی پر از گرگ‌های دزد دریایی واقعا بامزه‌ستتتت😭✨️

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only thing that can scare away a pack of wolves (real OR imaginary) is a Mother Rabbit with a big, bad broom. Cute story, and Gorbachev's artwork is adorable. (Even the wolves.)

[سیده فاطمه مطهری · Rating 4 out of 5]

چقدر لطیف بود آخر این داستان. چقدر لطیف
نوشتم آخر، چون اصل داستان برای خردسال ممکنه ترسناک و وحشت‌انگیز باشه
پنج تا خرگوش کوچولو هستند که شب فکر میکنن پشت در خونه‌شون گرگی وجود داره و مامانشون سعی میکنه بهشون اطمینان و آرامش بده

[Tayebe Ej · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب درباره ترسه و جالبه که وقتی برای پسرم که از گرگها میترسه خوندمش کلی خندید و دوستش داشت

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laugh-out-loud illustrations show a little bunny's bad dream as his mom puts a humorous, less-scary spin on the idea of nightmares.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending is definitely more for the parents reading the book than for the kids listening, but the story is amusing.

[Connor Krawczynski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kids immaginations run wild and kids should not let it scare them and that is what this book conveys.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mama Bunny climbs into bed with her scared bunnies. Hurrah!

[Anne G. Right · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carinissimo per i bambini come lettura della buona notte

[Carly Hales · Rating 4 out of 5]

We love Valerie Gorbachev’s illustrations but the story was surprisingly entertaining too! We all laughed.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

ALA's summer reading theme this year is Dream Big!, which features nocturnal animals, like bats, etc. To kick off summer reading, I did a bunnies and nighttime theme for Spanish and bilingual story times. Song choices were a little difficult to come by, but I had plenty to work with as far as stories are concerned.

This story is very cute. It's about a little bunny named Nico who has a nightmare about some wolves trying to "get" him. His mom rushes into the room to see what's wrong, and he quickly recounts different versions of what happened to him and the wolves. She reassures him everything is fine and leaves the room, but his stories have scared his other siblings, so they all begin yelling for help. Mom decides to "take care of those nasty wolves surrounding the house" once and for all...

I will definitely be reading this story for a future story time. I also really liked the illustrations.

[Arminzerella · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was the rabbits on the cover that made me pick this one up. I'm a sucker for rabbits. A bunny prone to hyperbole wakes up in the middle of the night having just dreamt he was being chased by wolves - a hundred of them! When his mom tries to comfort him/get the details, he changes his story. Multiple retellings in the presence of his bunny siblings only serves to give them the willies as well. When mom leaves, none of them can sleep. At her wit's end, momma rabbit goes outside and pretends to take on the wolves, after which she crawls into bed with her little brood and they're all able to get some shut-eye.

The little rabbits were pretty cute. Momma had curly hair between her ears, which I found creepy. Story intended to be funny, found it so-so.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicky wakes up in the middle of the night convinced wolves are after him. When the mama bunny comes in she asks Nicky if he's sure. She talks him down from 100 wolves to only 5. But then mama tells him it's only a bad dream. Then all of the bunny children are afraid there are wolves outside. So mama bunny goes outside and bangs on the garbage cans and yells for those wolves to go away! Then she snuggles down with all of the bunny babies for the night.

[The Brothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute story of a little rabbit who wakes up from a nightmare about 100 wolves. His mother comes in to comfort him and asks him if he is sure there were that many wolves. Each time she asks, the wolf count goes down but their antics get wilder. In the end, all the little rabbits think they hear ferocious wolves outside, but the mother cleverly deals with these fears.

Lovely, fun illustrations.

[Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great bedtime story for my son. He loves it and likes to quote lines.

[Jenni · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little rabbit’s imagination runs away with him.

[Elena Traduzioni Oceano Mare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Le illustrazioni sono bellissime! Talmente espressive che anche senza il testo ma solo con le immagini ti godresti comunque questo piccolo capolavoro!

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorbachev is fast becoming one of my favorite picture book author/illustrators. His stories are simple and sweet and the illustrations are nice (kind of Mercer Meyer meets Richard Scarry)

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute little story about being afraid in the dark. Wonderful Illustrations!

[Dani Kappel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A young rabbit has nightmares about being chased by wolves and the mother pretends to defeat them. This book is good for vocabulary and narrative skill. I'd recommend it for ages 1-4.

[Sanne ☀️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favourite book as a child, every evening my parents had to read it to me