Toby Forward

Here we have another vegetarian Wolf, but this one also moonlights as Grandma's personal assistant, helping her around the house, doing odd jobs. He refers to LRRH as "the kid," and his dislike for her is pretty obvious. He also comes across as slightly envious about how much attention the kid gets, and pouts about how much he's ignored when she's around.

The Wolf's story seems plausible, and he frequently asks us to come closer, does he "look like the sort of wolf who goes around eating show more grandmas?" A fun way to explore the concept of two sides to every story.

I was a little surprised to see the illustrated blood on pages 29-30, not because it was over-the-top or unnecessarily graphic, just that in children's books, one doesn't normally see the reality of what the woodman's axe actually does to the wolf. In this case it chops off part of Wolf's tail during his escape out a window.

All in all, a comical take on LRRH retellings / fractured fairy tales from the wolf's POV. I would probably only recommend this to middle graders and up because of the aforementioned tail-chopping illustration.

4 stars show less

A dragon fantasy with a twist, Forward creates a fully-realized world with well-drawn characters, and a history of magic and philosophy. This novel has one of the best opening lines I've ever read: humorous and attention-grabbing (see quotations). I had to re-read a few sections as the many characters and different plots interweaved and became confusing, but it was well worth it. I love Forward's epigraph of kindness, which shows fully in the characters of Flaxfield and Sam. Starback the show more dragon is introduced in the opening chapters, but leaves Sam early for reasons which we learn later. One of my favorite parts was when Flaxfield gave young Sam a handful of coins and asked him, over and over, to "put them in order" in different ways. Sam arranges them by size, value, and favorites, then Flaxfield asks him to really think and do it again. Sam uses his magic to learn each coin's story and puts them in two piles: those with good stories and those with sad. Doing the magic and learning the sadness shakes the boy, so Flaxfield ends the lesson for the day and tells him to go out and play. What a great lesson! I wish every child could have such a wise and kind individual teacher. I was surprised and delighted by Forward's tribute's to one of my favorite e.e. cummings poems, "i thank You God for most this amazing day" in Book Four: Dragonborn, chapter two, page 313 where he writes: "The dragon woke from a blue dream of sky (cummings wrote "a true blue dream of sky") and "The dragon drank in the scented woodland air, the ears of his ears awake, the eyes of his eyes opened. (cummings: (now the ears of my ears awake and/now the eyes of my eyes are opened)) and "This was his birthday. He was newly made in a limitless sky over the endless earth." (cummings: "this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth day of life and love and wings:and of the gay/great happening illimitably earth.").
I was well-pleased by the outcomes and look forward to further sequels. show less

I love this cute story about the wolf's point of view. The wolf tells a different story about the little red riding hood and her grandmother. I found this to be entertaining and funny! It is a classic story with a twist. The wolf explains that he was not guilty of eating the grandma in the story. He explains that he worked for her grandmother, and frequently, he saw a little red riding hood. He paints the picture of an honest, trustworthy wolf who follows the rules and does not eat meat. He show more tells the reader that it was all a misunderstanding, and in the end, he runs away from the grandmother's house while he offers his services to the reader. My students love these different stories that kind of story that go against the grain of a classic fable. show less

The first book in the Flaxfield Quartet. Twelve-year-old Sam has been apprenticed to the great wizard Flaxfield for most of his life. When Flaxfield suddenly dies his former apprentices arrive for his ‘finishing.’ They cast doubt on whether Sam is actually an apprentice, accusing him instead of being a kitchen-boy. Sam doesn’t know who to trust and in bewilderment he runs away with his dragon, Starback. The source of an evil magic has been growing in strength and unbeknownst to Sam, he show more is a vital player in the battle to come. I found this story sometimes confused and tedious in places. Overall it left me with more answers than questions, but I would probably read the second book just to find out Sam’s destiny. show less