I Am So Strong

K-Gr 2—A modern fable about bullying and the folly of pride. The Big Bad Wolf knows that he is the strongest animal in the forest, and he wants all of the other creatures to acknowledge his superiority. He asks each one who is the strongest, and all, terrified, answer, "Oh, you are, Mister Wolf." He finally meets his match when he encounters a small green "toad of some sort." When he sees the baby dragon's towering mother, he realizes that he is not really the strongest and sneaks away. Although the text is short and the plot is simple, Anderson includes some fairly advanced vocabulary and expressions that will probably be unfamiliar to the target audience, such as "Heigh-ho" and "Gumboil." The text is printed in large, legible font, sometimes on top of full-page illustrations, and sometimes on white space between. The pictures are done with Ramos's characteristically bold strokes, and the bright colors are applied thickly. Ramos's amazingly expressive characters show at first glance how each creature is feeling. The well-crafted illustrations make the book worth purchasing.—Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT