Children’s picture book, male character gets scared walking alone at night, and a wheel of cheese is involved somehow

[Joy]

I read this in the school library in 1990 or so, but it could easily have been 20+ years old. I found it spooky in an enjoyable way as a kid of about 7. This man or boy (I don’t remember which) is walking alone, I think through woods and I think headed for home. I think the cheese wheel is relevant, like it was the point of the trip maybe, but I’m not positive; the illustration of it is what stands out to me because at the time I didn’t know cheese came in that form. I don’t remember if anything was really following him or if he spooked himself. The title may have been either foreign or nonsense words (I wouldn’t have known the difference at the time), and the setting may have been somewhere in Europe. I would recognize the artwork if I saw it, but can’t picture it well enough to describe it except that it was dark. Not cartoony but not fully realistic either.

I have read the Goodreads lists of children’s picture books from the 70s through 90s, roughly 8000 titles, and taken a closer look at possible candidates. I have lost sleep and given myself headaches. I KNOW this book existed, darn it!

[munkchip]

I really hope you find this. The cheese feels like a bit of a red herring, probably relevant but not necessarily important. Do you remember if there were foreign/nonsense words in the text as well, or just in the title?

[Kris]

Joy, can you describe the illustrations - e.g., simple or detailed, realistic or cartoon-like, painted watercolors or bold graphics, bright or dark colors, black & white? Do they remind you of a similar illustrator or picture book author?

[Tabitha]

The first thing to pop in my head about cheese wheels is The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales.