Wolf's Coming by Joe Kulka (2007)

 This slightly scary tale should work really well with 3-5 year olds and it's great for narrative skills . The little forest animals realize that Wolf is coming, so they all hurry indoors to hide before he gets there. When he finally arrives, they yell "surprise" because it's his surprise birthday party (Wolf is 6!). The rhyming text, along with the mostly menacing pictures of Wolf, lead readers/listeners to anticipate what looks like a scary climax. If the readers/listeners look a little closer, though, they spot the balloon on each page that hints about the real ending. The illustrations lead naturally to dialogic reading (what do you think's going to happen next?...) and it demonstrates the value of reading books over and over, as this becomes a different experience the second time through...

- Steven Engelfried