I am sure that the Aesop fable of The Boy Who Cried Wolf will be quite familiar to most, as many would have at least read or heard the story during their childhood years. The classic story is something like this; boy "cries wolf", causing panic around him. Finally, when he tells the truth, no one believes him and his flock of sheep gets eaten by the wolf.
This book that K and I recently borrowed from the library has a slightly different spin to it, in fact, it is a slightly darker version of the classic. Boy "cries wolf" every time he has to do something he doesn't want to do, like take a bath or attend his violin lesson, until one day a wolf actually does come to town. Instead of having the boy's sheep for his meal, the wolf eats the boy's family for dinner and the latter ends up being the wolf's dessert. The ending can get rather graphic since all that is left of the boy and his family are a pile of bones.
I thought it was quite a light hearted book, but I suppose it can get quite unsettling for an imaginative 3 year old, who has started telling lies recently. When we read the book for the first and last time two nights ago, he kept really quiet for like two minutes after I finished reading the book to him.
This evening when he told a lie, I reminded him of this story of the boy who cried wolf. Just when I tucked him in, he asked if the book was still on the table in his room. He then requested that I put it on the dining table in the dining area and earnestly said, "We need to go to the library to return this book tomorrow, only this book."
Haha, he can't wait to get rid of the book, eh? I agree too, that this twisted version is a tad too scary for young kids.
That’s the thing about reserving books from the library, I did not get to see the book before making a reservation for it. Got to remind myself to browse through the books before I read it to him the next time. But still, the book worked to stop him from telling lies, despite being a little dark.