The Boy Who Cried Wolf

by Tony Ross

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Tony Ross is a British illustrator and author of children's picture books. He was a student at the Liverpool School of Art and Design. Ross has had quite a few occupations, such as cartoonist, graphic designer, art director at an advertising agency, senior lecturer in art and head of the illustration course at Manchester Polytechnic.
Ross won the 1986 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, picture books category, for Ich komm dich holen!, (I'm coming to get you! - Andersen, 1984. He was runner-up for the 1990 Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject, for Dr. Xargle's book of Earth Tiggers.

Meet the illustrator
What is your favourite animal?
A cat
What is your favourite boy’s name?
Bill
What is your favourite girl’s name?
Roxanne
What is your favourite food?
Lobster
What is your favourite music?
Irish
What is your favourite hobby?
Sailing

Reviews

[Britney Padilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fable - 1st-2nd grade.
This fable takes place on two sides of the mountains. The main character is a little boy named Willy and he lived on one side and on the other side lived the wolf. This wolf was like no other in that he would put on his dinner jacket before he went to the other side of the mountains to eat people. Everyone in the town was very afraid of the wolf. Willy would cry “wolf” just to get out of things he did not like to do such as taking a bath and violin lessons. He even cried wolf just for fun. Then one day as he was riding his bike in the mountains the wolf came out and began to chase him back to town. Willy cried wolf but no one would listen. They did not believe him and told him that he “shouldn’t have told so many lies.” As the wolf caught up to Willy, he decided to eat the adults instead. What do you think this wolf will have for dessert? A strength in this folktale is the lesson being taught that is not a good thing to lie and that no one believes a liar. A weakness in this story is that it visually portrays the wolf as a gentleman in his fancy dinner jacket. The townspeople are not dressed up as fancy which might show a negative image of people in society who are rich. I would recommend this title to first and second graders to teach them about the negative consequences of lying. The illustrations in this book are created using black ink and watercolors. Each of the images matches the sequencing of the text on each page. All the figures are outlined black ink and the colors used are not overly bright as from a neutral spring pastel pallet.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Boy Who Cried Wolf is a wonderful classic fable that is passed from one generation to the next. This story follows a boy who is not always very honest with the people in his community. At the beginning, the people believe him, but grow weary when time and time again there is no truth to be found. One day the boy is approached by a wolf. Scared, he goes to tell his neighbors, but nobody believes him, because they are frustrated to always feel be gullible. The story teaches the importance of being truthful to the people around you, because you want them to believe you if there is something truly wrong.

I use this story each year as a social emotional lesson within my first grade classroom. Depending on the version of this fable, you may have a rather upset group of children so I am not always able to use this exact copy. I do love the illustrations in this book, and the detail that they show.

*Fair warning, this version of the story does include an illustration of the boy in the bathtub with no clothes on. This will likely cause a ruckus within a classroom of young children... They may also be scared of the wolf wanting to eat people, so please be sure to think about your group of children before choosing this version of the fable.

I found this book on Goodreads' shelf of traditional literature and read the physical copy that I have in my classroom.

[Billy Noecker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of a boy that seeks attention from the townspeople by crying wolf while out shepherding sheep. After a while they grow weary, and at the last, chose to ignore her cries. The boy learns his lesson when the others come to the pasture to find him hiding in a tree and dead sheep strewn around the pasture. The wolf had in fact come that time. In the end, this is a great story for young children who feel compelled to seek attention and lie or embellish to achieve it.

[Amin elahifard · Rating 2 out of 5]

این داستان، ماجرای چوپان جوانی است که برای خوش‌گذرانی گاهی به دروغ فریاد «گرگ! گرگ!» سر می‌دهد. از قضا روزی گرگ به گله‌اش می‌زند و مردم گمان می‌کنند باز هم دروغ می‌گوید و بنابراین کسی به کمک او نمی‌رود.
کمتر کسی هست که این داستان نشنیده، مطالعه کتاب آدم روبه دوران کودکی آدم می بره، زمانی که نه خبر از ماهواره،تبلت و ... بود.

[Robert John]

The boy was protecting the sheep by wolves for the people. He decided to prank the people and cry wold numerous times when there was not a wolf. Finally the people got sick of it. Finally there was a wolf and the people did not believe him. It is hard to believe a liar when they are telling the truth.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a tongue-in-cheek, humorous take on the classic fable. If you are looking for an alternate version of the classic fable this would be appropriate for children about age 8 and up. I don't think my first graders are the right audience.

[Loke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Samma uppskattade format som på Pandora's box (Το κουτί της Πανδώρας) med både engelska och grekiska, tycker det är så himla praktiskt. Denna historia var inte lika rik dock, den var väldigt platt, om än lite lustig. Jag är glad att jag fick läsa den, men inte nödvändigtvis för innehållets skull.

[Palwascha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The artwork and illustrations are nice and it's an easy read. The only problem I find is with the violent end. Maybe that was the lesson the author was trying to pass on about the results of lying.

[Katie Beattie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that can teach children lots of important morals!

[kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

silly version!

[Andie Siegel]

Title: The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Author: Tony Ross
Illustrator:
Genre: Fable
Theme(s): Lying, Telling the truth
Opening line/sentence: Once upon a time a little boy lived on this side of the mountains. His name was Willy.
Brief Book Summary: This book was a retelling of Aesop's fable with a small twist. Willy would cry "Wolf!" in order to get out of doing things he didn't want to do, like taking baths or doing work. When the nameless wolf really does come, however, people don't believe him and he has to pay for what he did.
Professional Recommendation/Review #1:
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
This rollicking retelling of Aesop, said PW , ``offers a fresh slant on the boy trickster of fable . '' Ages 5-up. (Feb.)
Professional Recommendation/Review #2:
School Library Journal
Gr 2-5 Don't let the title fool you: this is not Aesop in any shape or form. Willy was a boy who lived on one side of the mountain. On the other side lived a nameless but hungry wolf. The wolf would sometimes don his dinner jacket to go over the mountain and feast on people. Willy often cried ``wolf'' to get out of whatever he didn't want to do, from taking a bath to his violin lessons, and sometimes just for the fun of it. Of course, no one believed him. Poised above Willy with knife and fork and salt and pepper, the wolf hears the unsympathetic, stern adults say, ``You shouldn't have told so many lies!'' They get eaten first, and then the wolf has Willy for dessert. The moral of this tale, says Ross, is ``C'est la vie. '' Jaunty, colorful, cartoon-like illustrations (reminiscent of Steig) coupled with a terse text do not make this a picture book. It is instead a satire for older children who are fond of Roald Dahl's brand of grisly humor. Maria B. Salvadore, District of Columbia Pub . Lib .
Response to Two Professional Reviews: I agree with the reviews of this book. The second review obviously goes into more detail about the story, but they basically just say that it is very different from the original Aesop.
Evaluation of Literary Elements: The simplistic backgrounds and minimal colors make the book somewhat eery. Also the pictures are very pointy and sharp which could give the book negative undertones as well.
Consideration of Instructional Application: I think I would be able to use this in my classroom when talking about the theme of lying and telling the truth. We could use the boy as an example of what not to do. The students will be able to relate when we talk about certain things they might not like to do, like chores or taking a bath. I can ask them if they could get out of doing them, then would they?

[Alexrob2012]

The Boy Who Cried Wolf," What a classic I really liked this book when I read it. This book was sort of stupid, when you think about it, the boy kept playing jokes but then the joke was on him ha-ha. Also it was helping to life but for 2 reasons like now that I read it I wont go and scream something that could happen. And the second reason is because it helps me make decisions like now I will think about what I say and how I joke.

I believe for one this book is stupid because the boy is stupid for yelling wolf. Why would you yell wolf to alert people knowing there wasn’t one and then keep doing it? So when there is one you all die ha-ha stupid. To mess with a town you could throw water balloons or threw rocks at people’s head when they walk down the street. I really don’t think it was worth dying for a joke or getting hurt.

The first reason why I think it was helpful is because it helps me think of things I shouldn't do. Like I shouldn't yell, "He's got a gun" Knowing people will be scared. Or "Put the weed away" when the cops ride past with the windows down. It makes me think smarter. Speaking of that it brings me to my last reason of why I like the book.

The second reason it helps is because it makes me think of my consequences first, like if I want to yell something like "loose dog" then it really wasn’t then one comes up and I yell it and no one falls for it then some one gets bit. And it reminds me when my mom says, "think before you speak" and I hate when she says that it gets annoying after a while.

Well there you have it its a good book because its stupid character that teaches you and it help you think of your actions and consequences. So basically it helps you out on your decisions and I know a lot of people that need help on their decisions. So if you need help read this book.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely a little darker than the original - the wolf does not eat sheep, but people (I know that's unrealistic), and at the end of the story eat eats the entire village.

C'est la vie.

In this house, pretend cannibalism is all the rage. Like adult/child pairs everywhere we say things like "Oh, you're so cute I could eat you up!" and so on, and we talk about how when we eat chicken we're eating something that yes, used to be alive.

(We also recite the absurd little nursery rhyme "Baby and I got baked in a pie".)

We find the illustrations in this book hilarious, probably because they're so over the top, and done in a light-hearted fashion. (The less graphic illustrations of Heckedy Peg were done in a more serious fashion and we couldn't finish that book.)

Some people have commented about "OMG! This book shows a penis!"

After reading those reviews I took my book to check. They're right. In the scene where Willie cries wolf to avoid taking a bath, you do see him from behind and there is a little dangly bit there. You really have to look closely to see it.

This doesn't bother me. Half of all young children do have penises, and the rest of them, if they happen to have younger brothers, will likely see a penis in the exact same context before they turn ten. It's a non-sexual illustration.

If you're concerned about that sort of thing, please pre-read before you purchase. But I recommend this book heartily :)

[Meghan Collins]

The boy who cried wolf was a tale that my grandmother started telling me when I started school in Kindergarten. This is a common story, and I never have actually seen a book written about it. When I came across the title, I had to check it out. Just like the traditional tale, this book is the story of a young boy who fibbed a lot of people for fun, in order to be left alone so that he could do whatever he wanted. When he was finally in danger, and needed help, everyone thought he was fibbing and playing around. Although the ending was a little harsh, the boy and his family ended up being eaten by the wolf.

I really liked the story, especially the illustrations. I liked them because it seemed old, and traditional, like the story. The book is an easy read for beginning readers, with big words and very little words on each page. The story is not word heavy, and the pictures match up with what is being told on each page. The ending of the story was a bit surprising to me, as everyone gets eaten, but I understand it is written to teach a lesson.

I can see myself using this book in Kindergarten, as a way to teach social science. A lot of the children are in a school setting for the first time, learning what is acceptable behavior and what is not. This would be a good reading group book, at a beginning level, and I can also see this book being used for individual reading for enjoyment for the students.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids always liked this book very much and for good reason. The illustrations are vivid and livley, the writing is a hoot, and the story does not cater to the moralistic happy ending. We all loved that (spoiler!) after the wolf ate everyone up, the little mouse cheerily closes the book with "C'est la vie!" - which is, in itself, a wonderful life lesson for children: when things look grim, inject a little French into the situation (either that or teach them to shrug and reach for a Gauloise and some vin de rouge).

[David Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the most indicative book of my childhood. It carries so many wonderful memories, and it is my all-time favorite children's book. My mom bought it for me when I was 5 or 6 years old for two pounds. The pages are torn and I've drawn with crayons on them and in the last page I write how much I love a boy that was in kindergarten with me. I still have this book in my shelves and I'll probably try keeping it intact enough for my kids - sorta like a family heirloom. It's a bit macabre, but still, a story that makes you smile wide.

[Resident Optimist · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that is great for teaching young children morals and teaching them the importance of 'not crying wolf', this is a story that is well known for it's consequences.

It's a book aimed towards young children but even adults and teenagers could learn a lesson or two from this book. You hear about hoax calls to police with people claiming to be in 'grave danger' - clearly these people weren't educated with the same tools as the rest of us.

I believe in the promotion of this book to all children purely for the application to real life.

[Mikayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that this book is sooo funny but the message is so wrong because there might of been a wolf and it might of been spying on her and I think that the book should be like this; it's better to call wolf than to not call at all. Over all this story is awazing and I loved the pictures too. :-)

[Yen Yuan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Horribly violent/ cruel! A good lesson for kids though!

[Service Room 12 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the book because it has a wolf in it. And the book was a little too sad to see people get eaten alive in the book but the little boy was for last. By Jackie.

[Ashley]

This has a very important life lesson that all children should learn.

[Matt English]

1) No awards
2) PreK- 2
3) This is the story of a boy who lies to get attention from people in his town. He craves the attention and lies so frequently that the town stops listening to him. Now when the boy tries to tell the truth no one listens to him.
4) This is a good version of the book. The illustrations are great and it holds the original story of the boy who cried wolf.
5) I would use this in a class that had a big tattling problem. I would try to explain to them that if they always come to me or another adult in the room with an issue that we will stop taking them so seriously after a while.