This time, Red comes home.

Three things a child can hold

Notice

Notice what somebody does — not what they look like, and not whether you like them.

Go

If you safely can, go. And if your feet will not move, that happens too, and it is not your fault.

Tell

Tell a safe grown-up. If that grown-up does not listen, tell another. And another. Until somebody hears.

Three things a grown-up promises

Listen

Let the child use their own words. Do not interrogate, and do not investigate.

Believe

Take it seriously first. Sort it out afterwards, with help.

Protect

Dealing with the Wolf is the grown-ups’ job. It is never the child’s job.

Not “stranger danger.” Behaviour.

In this story the Wolf lives in the village. He carries the baker’s flour. He knows every child’s name. He always has a sweet in his pocket for Red, and Red likes him.

That is deliberate, and it is the reason this book exists. Most children who are harmed are harmed by somebody they know — often somebody the whole family likes. A story about a stranger in the woods teaches watchfulness in the wrong direction.

More about the book →

For classrooms and childcare rooms

The Wolf’s Tricks is the teaching layer around the book — six named behaviours, three short sessions, and the same vocabulary going home to families. The classroom materials are a draft in expert review and are not yet approved for delivery; the family materials are finished.

About the programme →

Start with the free things

The book is the artifact. These are the things you can use today, at no cost, without giving anyone an email address.

• If a child has told you somethingWhat to say, what not to do, and who to call — written for the next hour
• The family sheetOne printable page. Five rules, two kinds of secret, and the words to say. Ready now.
• Standing permission to read the book aloudFor teachers, librarians and early childhood educators. No application, no fee.
• How this could go wrongEvery way this book could harm a child, and what we did about each one