One of the classic folk tales about danger, disaster, and recovery, the Brothers Grimm story of the wolf who impersonates mother, gains entry to the house, and eats up the little kids is almost too scary for many adults these days. Of course, this is what also makes it endure: the dangers may be real enough, but they’re happening to a family of goats rather than people, and mother goat is able to cut open the wolf’s belly and free her still-living children. Familiar anxieties about seductive strangers and home invasions are presented through an animal tale with a reassuring if rather implausible conclusion.

Blades’ text, which emphasizes the goat family’s mutual affection and the kids’ natural high spirits, and the light palate of her watercolour illustrations, which have a similar emphasis, make this version of the tale a surprisingly gentle one. As in her other fine picture books from Mary of Mile 18 on, Blades uses the details of domestic life – bright squares in the carpet and quilt, the rosy-coloured door and gaily painted chairs – to convey the warmth and strength of family life. The wolf, however, despite some impressive teeth, looks more like the friendly dog next door than a nasty predator. Indeed, he is so appealing, curled up with his chin on his paws and the kids in his stomach, that the obligatory harsh justice of the ending, where stones are sewn into his belly and he drowns in the well, may prove more distressing to readers than the temporary predicament of the kids he consumed.