10th Anniversary edition of Wolves by Emily Gravett

We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Emily Gravett. Her books are just so clever. We've read so many of them and adore the illustrations and clever story plots which are perfect picture book stories.

But there's something more you find with many of Emily Gravett's books - The book becomes part of the story. We saw this with Again! where the little dragon has burnt a hole through the book's page with his fiery breath. In Little Mouse's Big book of Beasts the pages are made to look like Little Mouse has ripped and torn them and in Meerkat Mail the pages are made to look like postcards.

When I was a kid, I remember wanting that something more from books. I used to make my own little books out of pieces of paper folded together and had little keys made of cardboard hanging on string on certain pages of the book, then a key hole cut out on another page for the key. I remember making little envelopes stuck in with letters and 'treasure maps' that unfolded to be used as part of the story as you 'travelled' through the book.

And I think this is why I absolutely adore the Emily Gravett books which have that extra added element where the pages of the book become a part of the story that you interact with.

Wolves is a perfect example of this. With one of those little cardboard pockets that used to be found in all library books in the old days complete with a little white tea stained card that can actually be removed from that little pocket, this is just the sort of thing we love about Emily Gravett.

Miss T said "I like rabbits card" as she took the little white card out of the pocket and then put it back in again.

The opposite page has one of those sheets of paper that gets date stamped with the return date printed on it. And at the end of the book a page with letters with one of the envelopes actually opening up containing a letter that can be removed and read, enhancing the story.

Utterly brilliant. These sort of things show what an absolute genuis Emily Gravett is.

The story itself is simple yet fantastic. Let's just say when rabbit borrows a book from the library, he gets rather more than he bargained for.

Amazingly, Wolves is 10 years old this year and won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2005. This new 10th anniversary edition is being released this year to celebrate. It contains an extra special element - a cut out and keep book called '10 Little Rabbits' which we are told is wolf's favourite book.

I personally could never bring myself to cut anything out of an Emily Gravett book - I will forever treasure it just as it is but I can see just how some children would absolutely love this little 'cut out and keep' extra treat.

I very much doubt that I need to specifically state this as I'm sure it's clear from the rest of our post - we absolutely ADORED this book. Miss T loved the suspense build up and really really enjoyed those little extra elements that I've described that take the book from being great to being superb.

Thank you so much Panmacmillan for sending us such a special book to treasure and keep!

And if you'd like one of your own, it is due for release on 30th July 2015. Wolves can be pre-ordered from Panmacmillan here.

You can see some of our other Emily Gravett posts as follows:

Book Review: Bear and Hare Snow!
Book Review: Matilda's Cat
A few of our favourite Emily Gravett Books - featuring Again! and Little Mouse's Big Book of Beasts.
Book Review: Bear and Hare Go Fishing
Meeting Emily Gravett at the Wonderlands Festival