When a Wolf Is Hungry

June 19, 2017
In terms of weaponry, Naumann-Villemin’s edgy picture book gives the board game Clue a run for its money. Hungry for a “grain-fed, silky-rabbit,” a wolf named Edmond Bigsnout bicycles into town to find one. After letting himself into an apartment building that’s home to one “Max Omatose, miniature rabbit,” Edmond makes the rookie mistake of leaving his knife in the elevator. Another resident swipes it (“That’s just what I need to cut this cake!”), so Edmond returns home to retrieve a chainsaw, since “sliced rabbit is delicious, too!” But another neighbor asks to borrow the chainsaw, and so it goes with the rope, cooking pot, and charcoal grill Edmond brings to the building after subsequent back-and-forth trips. French writer Naumann-Villemin’s story seesaws between neighborliness and menace, and Di Giacomo (Have You Seen My Trumpet?) is along for the ride, giving Edmond sharp fangs—and a dapper tuxedo—while alternating between shadowy, thriller-worthy moments and Edmond’s humorous interactions with the building’s residents. Eventually, gentility, vegetarianism, and the prospect of romance win out, delivering a happy ending for wolf and rabbit alike. Ages 4–8.

Starred review from June 15, 2017
Lone wolf Edmond Bigsnout sets off from his country home to kill and eat a "city bunny"--and becomes enmeshed in a life-altering adventure.From the start, the text and the masterful, mixed-media artwork are both funny and suspenseful. The elegantly dressed wolf strides across the autumn-tree-studded initial pages, sharp knife in carefully manicured paw, as he heads for his urban craving: "a grain-fed, silky-haired rabbit, one with just a hint of sweetness." The wolf rides his bike to the city, soon finding an apartment building with a promising tenant for his culinary desires: "Max Omatose, miniature rabbit, 5th floor." In his haste to reach said floor, Edmond leaves his knife in the elevator, where it is soon appropriated by a third-floor turkey. Edmond pedals back to the country, this time grabbing his chain saw. Each time he arrives with a different sinister tool, some other resident, thinking Edmond is a new tenant, gratefully borrows the tool. (Edmond may be bloodthirsty, but he is unfailingly polite.) By the time he has lugged a barbecue to the apartment house, the hungry lone wolf is greeted by the most come-hither-looking lupine lady in picture-book history: Miss Eyestopper. Edmond is still determined to eat that rabbit, but fate steps in and ensures a happy ending for everyone. As funny and as exquisitely put together as Edmond Bigsnout himself. (Picture book. 4-9)

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January 1, 2018
One day, a woods-dwelling wolf has every ambition to eat a "city bunny," but each time he tries to get to his prey's door, its fellow apartment dwellers inadvertently thwart him (by borrowing his rabbit-killing knife to slice a cake, etc.). The story, whose meticulous illustrations accommodate humor and menace, is a whip-smart merger of fairy-tale motifs and modern-day mores.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)