In an English translation of the German book Wolf Stein, a sheep named Karl applies for the newly vacant job of Wolf. Karl and his sheep friends (Rene and Locke) discover the power and peril in trying to become something you are not. Karl, acting as Wolf, eats Rene. Locke has to become the Hunter to save Rene from Karl’s Wolf stomach. The Hunter Locke replaces Rene with a stone in Karl’s Wolf stomach. Karl nearly drowns when he enters a nearby stream for a drink. Rene and Locke save him, but sew a bell into his stomach to remind him of who he is. The moral of this chapter book is that we are happiest and the world is in balance when we are who we were meant to be. This book is a satire of the enlightenment movement of modern philosophy where Karl is Karl Marx, Locke is John Locke, and Rene is Rene Descartes. The dwarf represents Nietzsche.

Although this is marketed as a children’s book and has illustrations, it is not material that children will fully understand. This story, which starts at the end of the tale of the Three Little Pigs, plays on the wolf in sheep’s clothing idea by putting a sheep in wolf’s clothing. Like many fairy tales, there are a few violent and scary situations. The basic black and white drawings illustrated by Katharina Busshoff do not depict bloodshed.

While some of the story is very funny, the humor is over the heads of most children. Sophisticated words in the text may need to be explained or looked up in a dictionary. Some readers will need help with pronunciation.

Librarians should carefully consider before adding this to a collection meant for children.