Big Wolf & Little Wolf The little leaf that wouldn't fall

The Mutt-and-Jeff companions introduced in Big Wolf Little Wolf (2009) return for more tender interplay. Catching sight of a particular leaf high in a tree, season by season Little Wolf repeatedly tries to persuade Big Wolf to get it. Big Wolf patiently counters that the leaf will fall on its ownbut when it doesn't even after the snows come, he gamely undertakes the risky climb. Watching anxiously from below, Little Wolf finally begins to wonder if the leaf is worth the trouble. Then the leaf shatters at a touch, and the flakes' graceful fall, as Little Wolf later tells Big Wolf, "was the most beautiful thing I ever saw." Drawn with long, bold pencil stroke, Big Wolf looms hugely over Little Wolf and would have a fierce, wild look did Tallec not add subtle cues of dress and posture to hint at his gentle nature. Fans of Virginia Miller's George and Bartholomew Bear will find in this import the same simple, warm intimacy. (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.