Wolf! Wolf!: A New Children's Book by Artist John Rocco

Wolf! Wolf! ($15.99 Hyperion) a new children's storybook from John Rocco takes a classic tale and provides a modern makeover. In his début effort, Rocco takes the familiar Aesop tale, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and twists it into a tale about telling the truth, sustainable farming, and unlikely friendships.

While Rocco credits his publisher at Hyperion with the idea of reworking this well-known fable-the quirky revamp is pure Rocco. At first, Rocco thought about updating the story from the boy's perspective. There was a problem. Rocco says, "the kid is a brat and I couldn't find a way to make him endearing."

Rocco reflected on a one of his favorite stories, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, where Gregory Maguire took a popular story, The Wizard of Oz, and took a different point of view.

The solution? Tell the story from the wolf's point-of-view. Rocco's wolf isn't ferocious; instead he's a little world-weary. This wolf is simply looking for a restful retirement and a nice meal. When the wolf's efforts at gardening prove to bear little fruit, the hungry animal heads out of retirement. The wolf happens upon a young goatherd with a penchant for tricking his elders.

The savvy wolf decides to teach the trickster a lesson. Rocco says, "In the end the wolf gets what he needs." Don't worry; the vegetarian-friendly ending won't cause any nightmares!

Sure the story's adorable, but it's Rocco's delightful drawings that make the simple tale leap off the page and come to life. The glorious illustrations are full of texture and nuance. Many of the illustrations have an Asian sensibility to them, thanks to rich jewel tones, cherry blossoms and authentic Chinese apparel.

Rocco said the creation of Wolf! Wolf! was a joy from start to finish. He is quick to praise his editor Namrata Tripathi at Hyperion and his supportive wife.

When asked how he made it in the competitive children's book business, he likes to refer to his scrappy Rhode Island upbringing. Nothing was handed to this artist on a silver platter. He always worked to support himself.

Rocco got his first break thanks to a serendipitous meeting with Whoopi Goldberg. Like many of New York's struggling artists, Rocco worked at a restaurant to put himself through school. One night after hosting the Tony awards, Goldberg came into the restaurant where Rocco was working. Rocco grabbed a print that he kept behind the bar and approached Goldberg.

Goldberg graciously accepted the gift. In fact, the actress/comedian was so keen on Rocco's work that she called him the next day to talk about collaborating.

The lucky meeting turned into a book, Alice, in which Goldberg wrote the book and Rocco supplied the illustrations. The profitable children's book landed on shelves in 1992.

Success from the Alice project prompted Rocco to leave New York and launch a computer graphics career in Los Angeles. Rocco found work at Disney studios and leant his talents to theme parks, television and movies (most notably as an art director for Shrek).

Despite his success in animation and graphics, Rocco never got the book business out of his system. "Through all my experiences and all the stuff I've done I wanted to get back to books," says Rocco. Rocco and his wife, Aileen Leijten (also a children's book author) decided to make a go of their chosen career as authors and they picked DUMBO, Brooklyn as their new home.

His next book, Moonpowder is on target to be released in 2008. In it, Rocco tells the story of a boy struggling to keep his family together when his father is called to serve in WWII. Rocco's not a slick marketer, and success certainly hasn't gone to his head. When he talks about his work, he's humble , warm and even a bit silly. Maybe that's the secret to his success.

Rocco always keeps in mind a bit of advice from illustrious children's author Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are). Rocco says, "When I was struggling to get started on Alice, I called Maurice. He told me, 'Draw for you. Draw what you want to draw.' And that's just what I did."