Lone Wolf: Goes to the Library Lone Wolf: On Vacation
by Kiah Thomas; illus. by K-Fai Steele
Primary    Porter/Holiday    48 pp.
5/25    9780823457809    $16.99
Primary    Porter/Holiday    48 pp.
5/25    9780823457793    $16.99

Lone Wolf (Lone Wolf: Gets a Pet and Lone Wolf: Goes to School, both rev. 3/25) is back with two new misadventures. In the first, Wolf, whose energy is Oscar the Grouch meets Wile E. Coyote, wants to return a library book without running into the noisy kids at storytime. In the second, he goes on vacation hoping to evade social interaction. As in past installments, Wolf manifests everything he hopes to avoid, and his limited vocabulary (“Grrrr”) leaves him helpless to communicate effectively. Fans of the first two series outings will appreciate the appearance of recurring characters such as the eager girl and the jolly hiker toting his goldfish in a plastic bag, but each book’s dry, off-kilter situational humor stands on its own merits. Steele’s watercolor and pencil illustrations have a classic cartoon appeal. Spreads establish setting, while close-ups and spot illustrations focus on character and action. A sequence of illustrations in which Wolf tries to avoid a “snotty little boy” whose mucus subsequently befouls the library’s book return chute is LOL funny, as is the look of horror on Wolf’s face when the driver of a nearly empty bus proposes a singalong. These transitional readers will appeal to kids who like their humor with a heavy dose of irony.

From the July/August 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.