Miss Understood by Kathryn Apel and Beau Wylie (Illustrator)

Title: Miss Understood

Author: Kathryn Apel and Beau Wylie (Illustrator)

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Published: 1^st May 2022

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 32

Price: $17.99

Synopsis: I’m the wolf, Miss Understood. You think I’m bad, but I am good. Those Little Pigs told you a porker made it sound like I’m a stalker! Is the wolf really as big and bad as she seems? Or is she just … misunderstood?

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What happens when the big bad wolf may not be the big bad wolf? Who says the story we know about the three little pigs is the true version? Well, many have tried to give all sides of the story, but nobody has ever attempted to tell the story in this way! Kathryn Apel has discovered that the wolf was female and that it all started when she wanted to be friends with the pigs, but when her presence scared the first pig who slammed the door to the straw house on her, her straw allergies made her sneeze and destroy the house, and everything unravelled from there. So whose story can we believe – or is their truth to both sides of the story?

Fractured fairy tales like Miss Understood are always interesting and fun, and I always enjoy fairy tale retellings and reimaginations, because it is interesting to see what different people do with them and how they respond to them. Some are very cleverly done, like this one, where we get to see what might have made the wolf destroy the first two houses of straw and of sticks, and what happened in the aftermath. At the same time, I could see how the pigs were scared – a wolf is much bigger than them, and I would be scared too if a wolf destroyed my house and chased after me, especially if it was bigger than me! So in this instance, I felt that whilst it was the wolf’s story, perhaps the implication is that there were misunderstandings on both sides.

Kathryn’s clever rhyming story is coupled with the fun and whimsical illustrations by Beau Wylie, as the wolf tries to reassure the pigs she means no harm, and as we learn about why wolves are feared what has been done to ostracise them. Of course, it does show how a misunderstanding can lead to someone being ostracised by society and perhaps suggests that we should try to talk things through. However,  another side of the story might be that the wolf was disguising herself to appear trustworthy – I think this is the sort of story that shows sometimes we never really know what someone’s motives are. If the wolf was misunderstood, we feel for her and I think she should have been allowed to sit down and talk to someone about things, rather than being the victim of a panic society. In this story, I don’t think there was really a villain – just a myriad of misunderstandings that led to an unfortunate situation and a good story to begin discussions about what happens when people make mistakes or cause confusion. A fun fractured fairy tale!