Woolbur (review)

Poor Maa and Paa: their son, Woolbur, is causing them no end of worry as he strays from the sheep norm. Woolbur runs with the dogs, cards his own wool while he's in it, and dyes himself bright blue—and each time he greets his anxious parents with a happy "Isn't it great!" Gleeful, heedless Woolbur is endearing in his enthusiasm and inventiveness as well as his independence, and the book's clear structure will let kids feel like insiders in predicting the pattern. That structure has a few too many iterations, however, and it winds the story up for a big, funny tension-release that never really comes. Instead, the story disappointingly underplays its dénouement and muddles its message (parents, be careful what you wish for? Individualism is good because otherwise we wouldn't recognize our children?), and nothing ever comes of Grandpaa's wise admonitions of "Don't worry." The combination of intense color throughout and arresting texture in both sheep coats and landscape elements makes some of the illustrations too busy for successful focus, and audiences are going to immediately ask why Woolbur doesn't stay blue after he's dyed himself, but the nubbly-coated lamb, his fleece twisted in dreadlock-like cardings, has the happy magnetism of the contented eccentric. Use this with Puttock's Miss Fox, reviewed below, to talk about individuality—or just to romp with some entertaining sheep.