All of the forest animals are in a rush to hide when they see Wolf approaching, looking dapper and dangerous in his blue suit and tie, his yellow eyes gleaming, and fangs drooling. As the sun sets and shadows lengthen, the rabbits, raccoons, and pigs race inside a house built into a tree trunk and wait apprehensively, concealed behind and beneath the furniture. Wolf opens the front door with a creak. “SURPRISE!!!” It’s a birthday party with cake, pizza, and presents for the delighted guest of honor—Wolf. Listeners will of course predict what they think is going to happen in a rhyming story that will give them delicious shivers all the way up till the unexpected ending. They'll assume Wolf is the bad guy, of course, as wolves so often are in stories. When you read the story a second (and third) time, leave off the final word for your children to fill in at the end of each rhyming couplet.


Themes: ANIMALS. BIRTHDAYS. PARTIES. STORIES IN RHYME. WOLVES.