The Wolf, the Duck, & The Mouse

The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse. Mac Barnett. Illustrated by Jon Klassen. 2017. 40 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Early one morning, a mouse met a wolf, and he was quickly gobbled up.

Premise/plot: Is that how you were expecting the story to open? Are you at all surprised that almost *all* of the book is set IN the wolf's stomach? The main characters are a MOUSE and a DUCK. These two meet--in the wolf's stomach--and both come to share the same opinion: THIS IS THE GOOD LIFE. Life on the INSIDE is much better than life on the OUTSIDE. On the inside, there are no worries, no fears. Just a lot of relaxing and coaxing on their parts--to get the wolf to eat what they want him to eat. But. Their good life is threatened one day....can the mouse, duck, and wolf work together?!

My thoughts: This may be my favorite Mac Barnett picture book. Maybe. I definitely loved it more than Triangle. I enjoyed the characters. I enjoyed the plot. I enjoyed the ending--how he turns this into a this-is-why-the-wolf-howls-at-the-moon story. It was fun. It was bizarre.

Text: 5 out of 5
Illustrations: 3 out of 5
Total: 8 out of 10

© 2017 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews