#913 of 1001 · January 30, 2023

The book of the day is Wilhelmina Harper and William Wiesner’s The Gunniwolf. A young girl lives with her mother near a dense jungle. Somewhere among the trees, the mother warns, lurks the Gunniwolf, a fearsome predator to be avoided at all costs. When the girl is left home alone one day, she recklessly ventures into the jungle. For a time, all is well—she picks flowers and sings a cheerful tune. Soon enough, however, she meets the Gunniwolf. She cannot outrun the dangerous beast, but she can soothe it with her song and escape while it sleeps. Harper employs an enigmatic vocabulary, with unforgettable turns of phrase such as, “Sing that guten, sweeten song again!” and “Away he ran: hunker-cha, hunker-cha, hunker-cha”. Wiesner’s hatched line art, colored solely with reds and greens, depicts the eponymous creature as a mischievous fox-hyena hybrid with lion-cut fur and a shag hairdo. #girl #jungle #wolf #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcover #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookillustrations #picturebookart #classicchildrensbooks #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks