Prolific picture-book author and storyteller Eric A. Kimmel teams up with illustrator Janet Stevens, who also worked with him on his many Anansi stories, in this retelling of a tale from the Brothers Grimm. When Nanny (i.e.: mother) Goat heads to the market, she instructs her seven kids not to let the Big Bad Wolf in to the house while she is gone. Although they attempt to obey her edict, the kids are fooled by their cunning adversary, who manages to disguise himself well enough to convince them that he is their mother, and when Nanny Goat returns, she finds herself joining her children in the wolf's belly. Fortunately, she has her sewing scissors with her...

Although I have read and enjoyed a great many books from both Kimmel and Stevens - this is my fifty-sixth book from the former, and my thirteenth from the latter - I cannot say that Nanny Goat and the Seven Little Kids particularly impressed me. The story is engaging enough, and the artwork is cute, but I just couldn't work up much enthusiasm for either, and I can readily understand why this is not one of Kimmel and Stevens' better-known titles. Tastes vary of course, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with this retelling, so despite my own indifference, I would still recommend it to fairy-tale fans and to picture-book readers looking for stories from the Brothers Grimm. ( )