Wolf Suit

Bellwether Riggwelter has run out of blackberries again. Rather than slip through a forest crowded with predators, he hits on a different idea: he will stitch himself a wolf costume so the creatures around him will leave him alone. The costume works, after a fashion. Soon Bellwether finds that the bulky suit makes it hard to enjoy the woods, and he begins to suspect that he is not the only creature out there who feels this way. Maybe not every wolf is as fierce as it looks.

The book has a dry sense of humor, a streak of darkness, and a good deal of insight, and it draws comparisons to the work of Jon Klassen and Edward Gorey. Its playful take on the old saying about a wolf in sheep's clothing turns that image around. The result is a modern folktale for anyone who has ever felt pressure to pretend to be someone else.