Big Bad Sheep

by Bettina Wegenast

Other authorsKatharina Bußhoff (Illustrator)

Hardcover, 2012

Genres

Description

Unable to stand by and watch his friend Kalle become a sheep in wolf's clothing when he gets the job of big bad wolf on a trial basis, Locke, also a sheep, takes on the job of hunter to stop Kalle's madness.

Publication

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers (2012), 64 pages

Media reviews

Catholic Library World

In an English translation of the German book Wolf Stein, a sheep named Karl applies for the newly vacant job of Wolf. Karl and his sheep friends (Rene and Locke) discover the power and peril in trying to become something you are not. Karl, acting as Wolf, eats Rene. Locke has to become the Hunter

to save Rene from Karl’s Wolf stomach. The Hunter Locke replaces Rene with a stone in Karl’s Wolf stomach. Karl nearly drowns when he enters a nearby stream for a drink. Rene and Locke save him, but sew a bell into his stomach to remind him of who he is. The moral of this chapter book is that we are happiest and the world is in balance when we are who we were meant to be. This book is a satire of the enlightenment movement of modern philosophy where Karl is Karl Marx, Locke is John Locke, and Rene is Rene Descartes. The dwarf represents Nietzsche. Although this is marketed as a children’s book and has illustrations, it is not material that children will fully understand. This story, which starts at the end of the tale of the Three Little Pigs, plays on the wolf in sheep’s clothing idea by putting a sheep in wolf’s clothing. Like many fairy tales, there are a few violent and scary situations. The basic black and white drawings illustrated by Katharina Busshoff do not depict bloodshed. While some of the story is very funny, the humor is over the heads of most children. Sophisticated words in the text may need to be explained or looked up in a dictionary. Some readers will need help with pronunciation. Librarians should carefully consider before adding this to a collection meant for children.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member technodiabla

My six year-old is dictating this review:
This book is about sheep that wanted to be the town's big bad wolf (a tradition) so he could scare everyone. He actually ate a sheep so his other friend dressed up as a hunter to rescue the eaten sheep. After the rescue (everyone lives) they decide to get

rid of the wrecked wolf costume and get rid of the tradition of having a wolf in town.

I liked this book because it was creative and about animals and dressing up. I think it would be best for 6 year olds who can read well.

Parental note: Obviously the irony is lost on a 6 year old!

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5 more

LibraryThing member HippieLunatic

I loved the mixed up fairy tale motif of this short novel. In every story, past and present, there is a way to tell it from another perspective, and in _Big Bad Sheep_ Wegenast does a great job of giving new life to a couple of old stories.

There were moments that the writing was not quite as clear

as it could have been, and given the intended audience of the book, I could not give this a full five stars, but it was really close.

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LibraryThing member cabyrum

This was an interesting story - Seemlessly ties together several classic fairy tales with a neat twist.

Per my 6 yr old - it was great I loved it!!
Per my 7 yr old - I liked it, especially the end when Karl takes off the wolf costume.

LibraryThing member thmazing

This book is a surprising blend of a modern cleaned-up fairy tale, and truly Grimm mayhem. The voice of the narrator is pleasant and leads to expectations of nice-nice, but when Karl puts on the wolf suit he truly does take a turn for the dark. Then when he eats another sheep--!

Then we get into

classic story with cutting open stomachs and inserting rocks and [near] drownings etc etc. Yes, everyone survives in the end, but the chaos unleashed has a pleasantly classically dark fairy-tale feel.

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LibraryThing member guyalice

Big Bad Sheep is a wonderfully warped children’s book from Germany, written by Bettina Wegenast and illustrated by Katharina Busshoff. It is written in an irreverent, self-aware manner, and the quirky line-drawings accompany the story on each page.

The book takes place after the defeat of the Big

Bad Wolf by the Three Little Pigs, when a cantankerous sheep decides he could take on the role of the Wolf splendidly. Going through bureaucratic registration, he gains the official Wolf suit. However, when this sheep in wolf’s clothing takes his new job too seriously, his sheep friend must counter by applying for the position of the Hunter.

This twist on fairy tales and fables is sharp enough for both adults and kids, but not mockingly cynical like many contemporary retellings. And I don’t know of many children’s books that would name their three sheep characters Karl, Locke, and Renee!

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LibraryThing member HeatherHomeschooler

Big Bad Sheep by Bettina Wegenast is a mixed up fairy tail of sorts. In it a sheep wishes to apply for the position of a wolf. He is awarded the job on a trial basis and goes straight to work terrorizing his fellow sheep, including eating an old rival. Another sheep who has followed the whole

ordeal has enough and applies for the position of hunter. In the end they do away with the tradition of wolves eating sheep and hunters rescuing sheep. While my children and I really enjoyed the illustrations by Katharina Busshoff, we felt that there needed to be more character development. We didn't feel like we got to know any of the characters well enough to think anything of them other than to feel sorry for them for being in this story. Based on the description I had read of this book, I was hoping for so much more.

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