What do you think?
What's the Time, Grandma Wolf?
There's a wolf in the woods and everyone says: "She's big and she's bad, she's old and she's hairy. Best leave her alone, she's mean and she's SCARY!"
When the little animals hear that a big, bad wolf lives in their forest, they decide to get a closer look. Squirrel, Crow, Badger, and their friends sneak up on Grandma Wolf's house, where they find her fast asleep.
Brave Piglet shouts, "What's the time, Grandma Wolf?" and the fun begins. All the animals take a turn asking the question, creeping closer and closer. As the excitement mounts, children will delight in discovering the surprise Grandma Wolf has in store for the curious animals.
Author-illustrator Ken Brown's vivid watercolor illustrations perfectly complement this engaging and unexpected story. What's the Time, Grandma Wolf? is also based on a popular classic game. Readers can look in the back for the rules.
When the little animals hear that a big, bad wolf lives in their forest, they decide to get a closer look. Squirrel, Crow, Badger, and their friends sneak up on Grandma Wolf's house, where they find her fast asleep.
Brave Piglet shouts, "What's the time, Grandma Wolf?" and the fun begins. All the animals take a turn asking the question, creeping closer and closer. As the excitement mounts, children will delight in discovering the surprise Grandma Wolf has in store for the curious animals.
Author-illustrator Ken Brown's vivid watercolor illustrations perfectly complement this engaging and unexpected story. What's the Time, Grandma Wolf? is also based on a popular classic game. Readers can look in the back for the rules.
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
Ken Brown
103 books5 followersKen Brown studied illustration at Birmingham Art College in England. Brown has served both as writer-illustrator and as illustrator for numerous children’s books.
Ken and Tammy have been married for 23 years and they have three daughters and one son. They feel blessed to be together. They both are passionate in what they do and have found joy throughout the years working together on their projects. Writing a book together has been rewarding and has helped bring them even closer to each other."
Ken and Tammy have been married for 23 years and they have three daughters and one son. They feel blessed to be together. They both are passionate in what they do and have found joy throughout the years working together on their projects. Writing a book together has been rewarding and has helped bring them even closer to each other."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
August 11, 2015
Awesome book!(:
May 7, 2025
The Grandma Wolf wasn’t so scary after all. There is however a real Grandma Wolf in North Las Vegas. You can catch Grandma Wolf at the popular North Las Vegas watering hole known as Poker Palace on Saturday nights. If you see Grandma Wolf don’t get too close she is known to run fades after eating the prime rib special. God bless.
August 14, 2023
Lovely drawings and original story!
Read
October 29, 2019Text to text connection
This book reminds me of the book The Monster at the end of this Book by Jon Stone. In What's the Time Grandma Wolf the animals are terrified of the wolf. Throughout the book the animals keep asking the wolf what time it is and the wolf gives them scary answers. At the end they find out the wolf is not scary at all. In The Monster at the end of this Book Grover is scared of the monster at the end. It turns out the monster is himself and finds out he was scared for nothing.
This book reminds me of the book The Monster at the end of this Book by Jon Stone. In What's the Time Grandma Wolf the animals are terrified of the wolf. Throughout the book the animals keep asking the wolf what time it is and the wolf gives them scary answers. At the end they find out the wolf is not scary at all. In The Monster at the end of this Book Grover is scared of the monster at the end. It turns out the monster is himself and finds out he was scared for nothing.
May 30, 2019
A "play" on Little Red Riding Hood - a group of animals (piglet, fawn, crow, squirrel, badger, squirrel, duckling and rabbit) are interested in finding out if the wolf in the woods is as everyone says "She's big and she's bad, she's old and she's hairy. Best leave her alone, she's mean and she's scary." One by one, they all "crept a bit closer" and ask "What's the time, Grandma Wolf", and she replies to each one...…..
This is one of my favorites for preschool story times, the children "love" the scariness with each passing page.
This is one of my favorites for preschool story times, the children "love" the scariness with each passing page.
March 5, 2022
A simple story, but very lush watercolor illustrations.
March 5, 2019
Rumor has it that Grandma Wolf is preparing to eat yummy forest animals for dinner. Throughout the book, Grandma Wolf is seen lighting a fire, chopping wood, boiling water, and scrubbing her pots clean. These actions cause the poor little animals to think that Grandma Wolf is cooking a delicious meal that will consist of them. Thankfully, in the end, Grandma Wolf announces to the animals that it is dinnertime, and she serves them vegetable stew and reads them their favorite book "Little Red Riding Hood."
A major theme of this book is to not believe stereotypes. The animals were hearing rumors that Grandma Wolf is big, hairy, mean, and scary. They believed the rumors and became afraid when they saw Grandma Wolf preparing dinner. This book teaches children to not believe everything they hear.
This book was so funny to me! The poor little animals assumed that the mean wolf was going to eat them, but she very kindly cooked vegetable soup for them. I loved the irony in this book, where Grandma Wolf reads "Little Red Riding Hood" at the dinner table. This book keeps a reader on their toes and anxious to figure out why Grandma wolf is cleaning her pots and cutting wood.
I would recommend this book because it teaches a valuable lesson: don't believe everything you hear! This book is also ironic which many children, and even parents, may find funny. This story makes children realize that not all wolves are scary and they shouldn't be held to a negative standard just because of silly rumors.
A major theme of this book is to not believe stereotypes. The animals were hearing rumors that Grandma Wolf is big, hairy, mean, and scary. They believed the rumors and became afraid when they saw Grandma Wolf preparing dinner. This book teaches children to not believe everything they hear.
This book was so funny to me! The poor little animals assumed that the mean wolf was going to eat them, but she very kindly cooked vegetable soup for them. I loved the irony in this book, where Grandma Wolf reads "Little Red Riding Hood" at the dinner table. This book keeps a reader on their toes and anxious to figure out why Grandma wolf is cleaning her pots and cutting wood.
I would recommend this book because it teaches a valuable lesson: don't believe everything you hear! This book is also ironic which many children, and even parents, may find funny. This story makes children realize that not all wolves are scary and they shouldn't be held to a negative standard just because of silly rumors.
October 3, 2023
Why is grandma wearing clothes and other animals are running around "naked"?
While I didn't particularly like that, some of you, teachers may like the fact that each character is described by using an adjective like silly, shy, bold etc and the opening paragraph has a TON of adjectives describing the wolf.
One spread is pretty scary, so bear that in mind.
It does get a little tedious reading this book, but the ending is good, and the illustrations are good too apart from the blunder with clothes and how she holds the axe and scrubbing brush which are a bit awkward.
While I didn't particularly like that, some of you, teachers may like the fact that each character is described by using an adjective like silly, shy, bold etc and the opening paragraph has a TON of adjectives describing the wolf.
One spread is pretty scary, so bear that in mind.
It does get a little tedious reading this book, but the ending is good, and the illustrations are good too apart from the blunder with clothes and how she holds the axe and scrubbing brush which are a bit awkward.
November 14, 2018
This book is sort of twisted fairy tale. It's great for a lesson on activating prior knowledge because although you may certainly worry about the wolf eating the other animals without knowing Little Red Riding Hood and "the better to eat you with," but I think it offers a greater and/ or earlier sense of impending doom.
November 1, 2019
A fun book to read to a kid.
November 3, 2023
Hilarious! Great ending!!!
Read
January 19, 2026Why, yes, I did pick up this book because of the Shadowlands episode of Bluey. The ending was different than I expected. kudos to Ken Brown for tricking me.
October 7, 2014
I considered this to be a Mother Goose Story because Grandma Wolf is best known for her role in Little Red Riding Hood, and for her scary demeanor. I understand Mother Goose teaches a lesson/moral, and in my opinion it would support not believing all stereotypes or judging, in this case it would be not all wolves are the same.
This book has a strong opening lead: "There's a wolf in the woods, and everyone said, "She's big and she's bad, she's old and she's hairy. Best leave her alone, she's mean and she's SCARY!" From here the child's imagination shifts to, these forest animals are going to get eaten! The visual concepts coupled with the repetition of the phrases "so we crept a bit closer" and "What's the time grandma wolf?" only to reinforce what readers believe they know will happen at the end. The animals are drawn in nice a smooth textures, and warm hues, and are not dressed up like grandma wolf, who definitely stands out. Due to the twist at the end, and the vocabulary I would use this for preschool up to fourth grade. This would be very educational to have the children enact the story so they would have a visual memory of what these new words mean (i.e. crept, brave, squawked, sassy).
This book has a strong opening lead: "There's a wolf in the woods, and everyone said, "She's big and she's bad, she's old and she's hairy. Best leave her alone, she's mean and she's SCARY!" From here the child's imagination shifts to, these forest animals are going to get eaten! The visual concepts coupled with the repetition of the phrases "so we crept a bit closer" and "What's the time grandma wolf?" only to reinforce what readers believe they know will happen at the end. The animals are drawn in nice a smooth textures, and warm hues, and are not dressed up like grandma wolf, who definitely stands out. Due to the twist at the end, and the vocabulary I would use this for preschool up to fourth grade. This would be very educational to have the children enact the story so they would have a visual memory of what these new words mean (i.e. crept, brave, squawked, sassy).
Read
November 17, 2016What’s the Time, Grandma Wolf? is a fun play on a few different stories. First there is grandma wolf who looks very similar to the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood. There is also a piglet, a fawn, and a rabbit. Them along with their other forest friends mighty up the courage to go and investigate this grandma wolf who is rumored to be very scary. Each one of the animals asks the grandma wolf the time, and as the book progresses you can see grandma wolf preparing for something.
Ken Brown does a great job incorporating characters from past stories. Although its not too obvious which stories they are from, it gives the reader a sense of comfort knowing that these characters are from other stories. The illustrations have great detail and color. The texture that is used to draw the illustrations give it that old story type feel. It is a fun story that gathers some of our beloved characters from the past.
Brown, K. (2001). What’s the Time Grandma Wolf. Atlanta, Georgia: Peachtree Publishers.
Ken Brown does a great job incorporating characters from past stories. Although its not too obvious which stories they are from, it gives the reader a sense of comfort knowing that these characters are from other stories. The illustrations have great detail and color. The texture that is used to draw the illustrations give it that old story type feel. It is a fun story that gathers some of our beloved characters from the past.
Brown, K. (2001). What’s the Time Grandma Wolf. Atlanta, Georgia: Peachtree Publishers.
January 16, 2016
Along the lines of the children's game of "what time is it, Mr. Wolf?" a bunch of forest animals gradually creep closer a grandma wolf, all the while asking what time it is, until it's finally DINNERTIME! But not quite the way you think...
Nice illustrations.
Nice illustrations.
February 4, 2008
Fun story in which "grandma" wolf isn't quite the meany she's been made out to be in Little Red Riding Hood.
August 26, 2008
Nice to know that not every story that includes a wolf has to be scary.
Read
November 15, 2008E Bro
August 31, 2009
This is a great read-aloud, and it keeps you guessing as to Grandma Wolf's motive.
February 1, 2012
fantastic story i was scared how it was going to end. it was totally a fun read
February 23, 2016
I thought it was scary but it wasn't because at the end Grandma Wolf said "its dinner time" but actually she didn't eat the animals, she made supper for them.
March 16, 2016
I loves this! Could have the kids repeat, "What's the time, Grandma Wolf?" each time and ask for predictions about what will happen next.
September 22, 2021
Fun read with unexpected ending. Jamie really enjoyed this one!
March 9, 2023
03/09/23 MWD Elementary story time - JC
08/23/23 PediaTrust -JC
08/23/23 PediaTrust -JC
April 2, 2025
11/18/25 I love reading this one for storytime!
October 3, 2015
Super cute!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews