The Gunnywolf

A clever little alphabet book that involves repetition, singing, voice inflection and a moral. The age old story, a child is told not to do something but accidently does it anyway and literally runs into trouble. The only way to save herself is by singing the alphabet to the wolf. Children enjoy hearing this old tale and singing it over and over as they try to elude the gunnywolf. Sing it loudly then sing it softly when scared. Pretend you are the wolf and the children, the child. Simple bright colored illustrations are eye catching. Here is a fun participatory story--when you can find the book.

I have used The Gunnywolf in my kindergarten classes for many years. My students have loved it so much that my copy is now duct taped together. They love singing the alphabet song, making "pitty-pat" and "hunka-chunka" sounds during the chase scenes, and searching for the gunnywolf on each page.I am desperately hunting a new copy to replace the "loved to pieces" one.

We checked this book out of our library this summer,and my 2 year old son is still quoting it. Great "sound effects", and the repetition of the ABCs has been a helpful reference for him as he works to learn his alphabet. I'd love to find a copy to have at home.

In this delightful book, a little girl wanders away from her home to pick flowers, despite being warned about the "Gunnywolf," sort of a Bogeyman-type figure. Sure enough, she runs into the Gunnywolf in the woods, but the ferocious-looking creature only wants her to sing her ABC song to him--again and again (sound like a toddler to you?). As she interacts with him, she loses her fear. At the end of the book, the Gunnywolf brings flowers to her and she sings her song to him--an unlikely pair indeed. The only drawback is that the plot has the little girl going into forbidden territory (the woods), with a happy ending, which often doesn't happen in real life. The illustrations have great expression, and a parent with a lap child can really get involved in character inflection and action. It was a hit with my (now) 9-year-old son as well as my toddler daughter and her friends. Plus the repetition of the ABCs has my not-yet-two-year-old singing along.