WILFRED

Wilfred is big. Wilfred is hairy. Wilfred is lonesome.

In this odd little story, Wilfred takes his big, hairy, lonely self to a nearby town where he hopes to make a friend. It turns out that the townspeople he encounters just happen to be bald: “They didn’t have a single hair on their heads. Not even the ladies.” Unfazed, Wilfred longs to join the bald children in their play, but all except one boy run away from him, and they end up having a great time together. Meanwhile, instead of maintaining fear of the giant, the other people take an interest in him since winter is coming and they want to take his hair to make wigs for themselves. They convince Wilfred he must shave himself in order to maintain his friendship—but now he is too cold to leave his cave. As the story twists and turns through its forced plotline, a now-hairless Wilfred ends up emerging as a hero when he rescues the little boy who initially befriended him. In gratitude, the townspeople remove their wigs and sew them into a large, hairy suit for Wilfred to wear, accepting him into their community. The pen-and-ink illustrations with digital colorization have an appealing cartoonish quality to them, but they can’t make up for the lackluster story.

Other, stronger picture books about friendship abound.