Little Wolf, Forest Detective

by Ian Whybrow, Tony Ross (Illustrator)

Overview

A fifth title [fourth novel] about Little Wolf as he and his friends set up the Yelloweyes Forest Detective Agency.

The fourth novel about Little Wolf, his cousin Yeller, baby brother Smellybreff, Stubbs Crow and Normus Bear who set up the Yelloweyes Forest Detective Agency . Following the departure of their main teacher and star attraction of Haunted Hall for Small Horrors, Little and chums close the school to become forest detectives. Their specialities are tracking and trailing with Stubbs Crow being the flying squad; Smellbreff specialising in small clues and Normus Bear specialising in large clues. Written in letter form by Little Wolf, who specialises in appalling spelling, this novel is sure to follow in the footsteps of the previous 3 in delighting young and older readers. Sales of the previous titles exceed 100,000 copies [including huge sales in last year’s Books for Schools campaign] and the books have been translated into ten languages and are now published in the USA too.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780008140113
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	06/25/2015
Sold by:	HarperCollins Publishers
Format:	eBook
Pages:	112
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

About the Author

Until August 2000, Ian Whybrow was a teacher and Head of Sixth Form at the John Lyon School in Harrow. Now a full-time author, he specialises in writing humour and this is reflected in his Little Wolf titles as well as his picture books for Collins [Where’s Tim’s Ted] and other publishers. His wife, Anne, is also a teacher and one of his daughters is Lucy Whybrow, the actress.

Ian Whybrow’s many popular successes range from picture books to novels for older children. Best known for his original humour, he always writes with adult readers as well as young ones in mind. He has a brilliant ear for voices, and takes pride in the fact that his work reads aloud very well. ‘I loved being read to as a child,’ he says. ‘And I loved the sense that my parents were enjoying it too. For me, that’s the acid test for any book – that there’s something in it for everyone to enjoy.

Tony Ross was born in London in 1938. He went to art school in Liverpool and has since worked as a typographer for design and advertising agencies. His cartoons have appeared in Punch, Town, Time and Tide and the News of the World. His first book Hugo and the Wicked Winter was published in 1972. Tony has since written over 100 books and illustrated over 2000! Two of his creations, Towser and The Little Princess have been turned into TV series.
Tony lives in Wales.

Editorial Reviews

In the fourth book in the series that began with Little Wolf's Book of Badness, Little Wolf, Forest Detective by Ian Whybrow, the hero and his friends join forces, creating The Yelloweyes Forest Detective Agency (YFDA). The sleuths must prove their worth when an elusive suspect prompts Little Wolf's father to hire a "professional" detective, Furlock Holmes-Wolf. (Sept.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 2-4-A continuation of the series begun in Little Wolf's Book of Badness (Carolrhoda, 1999). Here, baby animals are disappearing from the forest and it is up to Little Wolf, his brother Smelly Breff, and Stubbs the Crow to crack the case. Together they form the Yellow Eyes Detective Agency. As the investigators stumble across increasingly bizarre clues, Little Wolf sends letters about his adventures home to his parents. These notes, full of misspellings, alarm the little wolf's father so much that he is compelled to send a "real investigator" to bail the group out. The story is aimed at beginning chapter-book readers, but Little Wolf's cobbled-together language may be difficult for them to follow at first. Visual aids are offered in the form of scrawlings and scribblings from the talented artist. A good sense of adventure may keep otherwise confused readers rushing along to the end. Dav Pilkey fans might find this comical tale a good gap filler while waiting for the next "Captain Underpants" (Scholastic).-Alison Kastner, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

From Frettnin Forest, Beastshire, the orthographically challenged correspondent introduced in Little Wolf's Book of Badness (1999) again reports nefarious doings and silly misadventures to his unsympathetic parents. A number of local baby animals having gone missing, along with some from a visiting circus, and Little Wolf and his associates at the newly formed Yelloweyes Forest Detective Agency take up their mail-order sleuth kits and spring into action. As usual, it all turns out to be the doing of Mr. Twister the fox, who with a homemade gene-modifying machine is recombining his captives into such useful new creatures as cat/spiders to guard his digs, a vegetarian lamb/lion, and a succulent hyena/mouse that can't hide no matter how tall the grass. A Gen-Next e-mailer in the making, Little Wolf adorns his letters and blot-marred handwritten postscripts with creative spelling and made up words-"But do not fret and frown, we will solve this case soonly, easy cheesy. (Probly.)"-to which Ross adds plenty of sketchy cartoon portraits and vignettes. Once Mr. Twister has been sent packing (to return, no doubt, in future episodes), Little Wolf, his friends, and even obnoxious little brother Smellybreff throw over detective work to join the circus. Readers unfamiliar with this import's first three installments may trip over a few continuing plot threads, but there's plenty of noodleheaded humor, plus healthy doses of deduction and derring-do, to keep the howls coming. (Fiction. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews