Pete the Sheep

by Jackie French

There's no cutting corners on this durable edition featuring Pete and other favourite friends at Sean's Sheep Salon. the award-winning team behind Diary of a Wombat have joined forces again to create another highly amusing picture book. Sean is a shearer and instead of a sheepdog to help him, he's got a sheep sheep - Pete. After being rejected by the other shearers and their dogs, Sean and Pete set up a sheep salon in town. Sheep from everywhere arrive to have their wool shorn in the latest style and even the shearers' dogs end up arriving for a cut in order to look gorgeous. Jackie and Bruce have created the perfect combination of words and illustrations in this irreverent look at the world of sheep shearing. Ages 4-9

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Australia, Fiction, Animals, Humor, Dogs

Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Jackie is an award-winning writer, wombat negotiator and the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2014-2015. She is regarded as one of Australia’s most popular children’s authors, and writes across all genres - from picture books, history, fantasy, ecology and sci-fi to her much loved historical fiction. In her capacity as Australian Children’s Laureate, ‘Share a Story’ will be the primary philosophy behind Jackie’s two-year term.

Reviews

[Petra has a black dog on her shoulder. Again. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The premise of this book is that a kind word accomplishes more than a big bark and that we all feel happier when we look good. To fulfil this premise we are led from sheepdogs being a bit gruff through sheep who operate beauty salons to sheepdogs in hair rollers. What can I say... its truly fantastic and with amazing drawings. Recommended for everyone over the age of 3 whose sense of humour knows no bounds.

[GoldGato · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jackie French is one of my favourites in the world of children's books (her Wombat series is great). She also happens to be the Australian Children's Laureate, so Oz appreciates her, too. In this book, she illustrates the doings of a fashionista sheep named...Pete. Think of Babe trying to be a sheepdog and you'll get an idea about the unique personality of...Pete.



At first glance, one gets the impression that this book is satirizing the sheep shearers of Australia, but the backstory is that Jackie French's family owned a black sheep who thought he was a sheep dog. He would herd the other sheep into the pens in return for treats. He was the kind of sheep who would receive venture capital funding if he did that today.

Also, the book has been turned into an Aussie stage play. Fun stuff.



Book Season = Spring (baa baa)

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second read, still hilarious and awesome. I still think it has something to do with Gay Pride, too. But on any level, it's a great read. Btw, I can imagine that the last book of a run would have "faint" illustrations as one reviewer complained, so try before you buy.

[Jody · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a nice surprise to not only find a few English-language picture books in the library today, but to find a couple of Australian picture books. This one in particular, I loved. It really made me laugh, especially the translations of "Baaa", and the pictures of the three shearers at the end. Very "Aussie", and a welcome find. We've borrowed this one too, and I'm actually looking forward to re-reading it over the next few weeks.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looking for a picture book for my English lessons at the moment. I absolutely loved this one but it’s probably too hard for my kids.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cute story about sheep shearing. Enjoyable, but not exciting enough for me to want to read it a second time.

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate when I forget that I've already read something and then order it, only to realize I've already read it.

But about Sheep-Sheep, in case you were wondering what a "sheep-sheep" does, it's like a sheep dog, except that it's a sheep-sheep.
The other sheep shearers aren't too happy with Pete, who's sheep herding sheep is much better at the job than their dogs.

Confused yet? That's my fault, not Jackie French's.

So Pete and the Sheep-Sheep get run off and have to find different work and decide to open a salon for sheep, it becomes quickly popular and soon steals all the business away from the other shearers. Part of Pete's success has to do with the wildly fantastic hair-dos he comes up with.

Before long the other shearers come to work for Pete and their business expands from sheep, to animals, to people!

[babyhippoface · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shaun the shearer and his herding sheep, Pete, have their own style, which leaves the other shearers furious enough to kick the pair out of Shaggy Gully. When their sheepdogs desert them to join the banished Shaun, who has started his own salon giving sheep unique, new wool-styles, the other shearers join Shaun and expand the business. From the creators of the charming Diary of a Wombat, Pete the Sheep-Sheep brings more laughs, mainly through Whatley’s clean and comical watercolor-and-ink illustrations of the animals’ facial expressions. Kids will love this one.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a strange, but entertaining story about sheep. The book has a fun Australian theme and the dialogue is humorous. The illustrations are wonderfully wild and silly and we loved the different styles for the sheep.

We've read several books by this author/illustrator team and we like the (sometimes bizarre) humor and fun narratives. We enjoyed reading this book together.

[Miss Bookiverse · Rating 3 out of 5]

My sister gave it to me because I had loved "The diary of a Wombat". Pete the sheep is not as cute as the wombat but still pretty awesome. As always, funny heartwarming story and beautiful drawings. Oh and I also got a stuffed animal Pete with the book =D

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is great and my kids, 14, 12, 9 all thought is was very funny. I like that it shows that sometimes it is okay to think outside the box and try things in a different way. I also like that the sheep-sheep was polite to his fellow sheep which got him better compliance than the sheep dogs that just growled and threatened the sheep. In the end the sheep dogs wanted in on the fun too. Maybe those who are mean just want some attention. There are several good lessons in this book. :)

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories about sheep often have my name, so it is good to see a different name for a sheep for once!! Ild Pete the sheep, a fun tale from French who is very good at these shot humorous anthropomorphic Australian tales.

[Shiloah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny one!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A charming picture book for children with a lovely moral and beautiful illustrations. Sheep, sheep dogs and shearers alike all deserve the perfect hair cut!

[Tobi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic addition to French's entourage of amazing books.

[Freddie D · Rating 4 out of 5]

So wonderfully Australian and great fun to read.

[Matt O’Loughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny book but a bit of a tounge twister

[Mr H · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite dull for a Jackie French book

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute and a little strange.

[Eric Mcweeny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pete the Sheep-Sheep is a story about a sheep shearer and his talking sheep named pete. The sheep hearer named Shaun uses Pete the sheep to talk to the other sheeps politely and ask them to move instead of using mean sheep dog. The other sheep hearers were outraged that he was not using a sheep dog. Shaun and Pete the sheep start a successful barbershop for sheep were they give them cool haircuts, which gets the local sheep hearers really mad. When the local sheep hearers went to talk to Shaun and Pete the sheep, they end up becoming friends and joining the barbershop as new barbers. Happy ending!

[Jack Kirby and the X-man · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why do I get disproportionate pleasure that that the shearer's name is Shaun - and after the sheep visit him they are shorn?

Jackie French and Bruce Whatley have done a fantastic job - their previous work together Diary of a Wombat has been added to my to-read shelf.

[Ezekiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a total favorite of mine. While Shaun is not explicitly gay, the ways he is coded/the story itself (about difference being wonderful) definitely make me as a queer person feel like I am a beloved target audience member. I would love if we could have had a more racially/ethnically diverse cast, but besides the (sadly industry standard) whiteness, this is a great book. Wonderful story, wonderful illustrations, and for a read-aloud book, wonderful opportunities for engagement between reader and listener (including some great opportunities for animal noises and different voices).

[Hafidha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't like the faint drawings. Didn't seem appropriate for a 2.5 year old - no matter how much that 2.5 year old loves sheep. Story is kind of all over the place ... I got a bit bored reading it. Some guys have sheep dogs, but one of the dudebros has a sheep-sheep. He keeps it cuz he LOVES cutting off its hair. And then he starts cutting everybody's hair and doing weird things with the wool. It's a bit trippy. Maybe a five year old would like this better.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pete is a sheep-sheep. That is, a sheep who acts like a sheep-dog. The true sheep-dogs and the human shearers get mad at Pete and Shaun (Pete's human shearer counter-part) and so they start their own shearing salon with unusual sheep hair-dos.

Kids may think it is funny. A bit too forced, like the author is trying too hard.

[The Brothers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really unique story about a sheep shearer (Shaun) who used a sheep instead of a sheep dog to help get sheep ready for shearing. Love the interaction with the other shearers who use regular sheep dogs. Also neat how Shaun comes up with a solution to his troubles.

Great, great illustrations. Funny and interesting to look at.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pete is a polite sheep who helps his friend Shaun to gather the sheep for shearing. The other shearers are mad- whoever heard of a sheep-sheep instead of a sheep dog. Good discussion points about being polite and everything works out great in the end. Fun to read with an Aussie accent for the other shearers.

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is funny, and therefore enjoyable for adults, and my 1.5-year-old son requests this book often, though he rarely makes it through the whole thing. (he probably just likes looking at all the animals) I bet older kids would appreciate it more.

[Kerrikoala · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like the Diary of a Wombat books, so I thought I'd read this one, too. It reminds me of Babe, as well as an episode of Shaun the Sheep. While it's a cute story, it didn't quite entertain me the way the wombat books do.

[Shelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a simple and humorous read that kids will enjoy. Pete takes the art of sheep shearing to an entirely new level. The illustrations are very colorful,the people and animals personality really come through with all their expressions.

[AbsentLibrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story about looking at things differently, the willingness to change, and that it's okay to be more or different from what people assume you will be. Great sheep-dos as well! Fun illustrations.