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ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: The Greedy Wolf
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.timothyknapman.co.uk/
CITY: Surrey
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
LAST VOLUME: SATA 406
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in London, England.
EDUCATION:Studied at Oxford University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, playwright, and operatic librettist. Librettist with vocal group I Fagiolini. Presenter at schools, colleges, libraries, and bookshops.
AVOCATIONS:Attending the theatre, movies, swashbuckling.
AWARDS:Australian Art Music Award for vocal/choral work of the year, 2016, for Le Molière Imaginaire; North Somerset Teachers’ Book Awards nomination, 2020, for River Stories.
WRITINGS
Author, adapter, and translator of libretti for operas, including O gramo pantalon, 2001, I’m the King of the Castle, 2006, The Night Knight, 2008, The Dream of St. Anselm, 2009, and The Electricionary, 2015. Author of play The Stag King and adaptor of A Christmas Carol for the stage. Author, with Alex Silverman and Ed Jaspers, of Hamlet! the Musical, 2010; author of musicals, with Stuart Matthew Price, Before After, 2014, and Imaginary, 2017; author of musicals, with Laurence Mark Wythe, Danny Hero, 2016, Growl: The True Story of the Big Bad Wolf, 2019, and Midnight. Also lyricist/librettist for composer Richard Peat; author of text for songs by composers Roderick Williams, John Bate, and Joanne Casey; script editor and writer for the National Archives’ 2022-23 exhibition Treason: People, Power and Plot. Also writer for the television show Driver Dan’s Story Train. Author’s works have been translated into twenty languages.
SIDELIGHTS
Timothy Knapman is the author of more than thirty books for young audiences, including Superhero Mom, Guess What I Found in Dragon Wood, and Time Now to Dream. Knapman boasts a lifelong love of words and stories. “I had a very happy childhood and I remember stories, and the pictures that went with them, made a deep impression on me from a very early age,” the British writer recalled on the Walker Books website. He added, “I suppose my fascination was always for the ‘other world’, the place through the wardrobe, down the rabbit hole: the magic land that’s so close you can almost touch it.”
After studying history at Oxford University, Knapman began a career as a playwright and librettist (someone who writes lyrics for stage productions). Mungo and the Picture Book Pirates, the first work in a series about an imaginative young boy, appeared in 2005. In Knapman’s picture-book debut, Mungo loves to read about his favorite pirates, and when the book’s piratical hero disappears from the story, the boy jumps in to take his place. Mungo’s adventures proved popular with British readers, and he returns in Mungo and the Spiders from Space and Mungo and the Dinosaur Island.
Knapman also explores fantasy themes in The Mermaid, the Prince, and the Happy Ever After and Guess What I Found in Dragon Wood. The first is a romance between a prince with a leaky castle and a mermaid, while in Guess What I Found in Dragon Wood a dragon brings home a strange creature: a red-haired boy named Benjamin. Although the dragon’s new “pet” does not like the raw fish and worms the dragon serves for dinner, the boy is a big hit when he teaches the dragon’s friends to play soccer. Guess What I Found in Dragon Wood has also proved popular with American readers, and a Kirkus Reviews critic wrote that the “big die-cut hole through the front cover kicks this import’s appeal up even further.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer described the story’s ending as “flabby” but added that Knapman’s “otherwise droll storytelling” results in a “funny-poignant story.”
A number of Knapman’s books deal with the emotions and experiences young protagonists have with their parents. Mom’s the Word, illustrated by Jamie Littler, is an “energetically illustrated tribute to mothers” that “challenges readers to consider many different feelings associated with the word ‘Mom,’” noted a Kirkus Reviews writer. Knapman uses rhyme to ask multiple questions about activities and objects that evoke the pleasant emotions associated with a young reader’s mother. A cuddle, a good-night kiss, a get-well-soon wish, and many more are associated with the word “Mom.” A Children’s Bookwatch reviewer called the book a “tribute to Moms everywhere.”
Another work focusing on positive images of parents is Superhero Dad. This book, illustrated by Joe Berger, portrays a father’s perceived superpowers from the perspective of his admiring son. In the illustrations, the father might not look like much of a superhero, but the child knows better. His father makes super-breakfasts; he has the power of super-snoring; he can lift his son and carry him about; he can even make dinosaurs seem real. Best of all, when the boy is afraid in the middle of the night, Superhero Dad can chase away the monsters just by being there. By the end of the story, the reader realizes that Superhero Dad has a similar attitude toward his son. A Kirkus Reviews writer called the book a “sweet concept.”
In Superhero Mom, a companion volume, a young girl trumpets the varied accomplishments of her busy mother, which range from making pancakes and bandaging an injured knee to locating lost items and rushing to the bus stop. “Knapman’s sentiments about a mother’s many talents are well-meaning,” a writer noted in Publishers Weekly. An intergenerational tale, Superhero Gran depicts a pair of children enjoying an idyllic visit to their grandmother’s house, where plenty of toys and games await and a sleepover caps a perfect day. “The rhyming text is easy and fun (and quick) to read aloud,” observed a contributor in Kirkus Reviews.
In his picture book The Twelve Unicorns of Christmas, Knapman provides an inventive take on “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” After a unicorn appears in her family’s wonderfully decorated tree, a youngster spends the holiday season cavorting with her new companion. As the days pass, however, the unicorn grows increasingly lonely until a surprise gift from Santa lifts its spirits. A Publishers Weekly critic applauded the story, remarking that “Knapman turns the favorite cumulative Christmas carol into a countdown to Christmas Day.”
Time Now to Dream follows Alice and her younger brother Jack as they investigate strange noises coming from the forest near their home. The sounds resemble words, but they are not words that either of the children understand. Jack is afraid that the noise is coming from the Wicked Wolf, a fearsome creature that they know lives in the woods. Alice, however, thinks they should find out for sure, and she reassuringly takes Jack’s hand as they head off into the forest. As they go deeper into trees, their surroundings get darker and more frightening. Suddenly, they find the source of the sounds, and they realize it is actually a wolf. Alice panics, Jack is terrified, but quickly they realize that the creature they see is not the ferocious Wicked Wolf but a mother wolf singing a soothing bedtime song to her three young pups. At this discovery, “the delicious escalation of suspense is replaced with a quiet sense of wonder, making this story a winner,” observed a Publishers Weekly contributor. A Kirkus Reviews writer found Time Now to Dream to be “just the right combination of fairy tale and bedtime book, scary and soothing.” Ilene Cooper, writing in Booklist, remarked, “This flight of fancy … is wound with both adventure and safety as well as heaps of sweetness.”
Follow the Track All the Way Back is a railroad-themed book with trains as characters. Little Train is ready to leave the train shed on his own for the first time. For this big event, Mommy and Daddy train offer their best advice to “follow the track all the way back.” By doing this, Little Train will be safe and will get back home with problems. In the excitement of the trip, however, Little Train doesn’t completely accept his parents’ advice. He travels through a field, across a bridge, and over a mountain. When he reaches the end of his trip, things get darker, and rain starts to fall on him. Rather than being scared, he thinks back to what his parents told him, and sets out on his homeward journey by following the track home. When he gets there, his proud parents are waiting, and he vows to go out again in search of even bigger adventures. “All aboard for a great storytime pick,” remarked a Kirkus Reviews contributor.
In Good Night Tiger, young Emma is having trouble falling asleep. All the animals in her room are making too much racket for her to get any rest. As she looks for the source of the noise, she realizes that it’s the animals in her wallpaper that are making the sounds. The frustrated Emma orders the creatures to be quiet, but they respond that they can’t. Emma offers them suggestions for getting to sleep—taking a bath, drinking hot chocolate, turning off the lights—but none of the suggestions work. She finally tells a bedtime story that captivates all the animals but the tiger. When the tiger can’t sleep, Emma offers a good-night cuddle that works for both of them. In a Children’s Bookwatch review, a writer called the book an “enticing bedtime story for children with lively imaginations.”
The Winter Fox is a story with a moral reminiscent of the classic tale of the Little Red Hen. Fox is happy to play and have fun throughout the summer. However, his recreation means that he has not done anything to put away food or prepare for the upcoming winter. He has watched his animal friends working hard to get themselves and their homes ready for the cold season, and when they offered to help him, he refused. Fox brags about how he will play in the snow and have the forest to himself when his friends are bedded down in their warm and cozy dens. When winter finally arrives, Fox has a different attitude when actually faced with the cold and snow. Regretting his choice to let winter preparations slide, he wishes on a star for help. In response, a box hits the fox on the head, while in the background, a familiar sleigh and reindeer travel across the sky. The box contains food and several smaller packages, which the Fox shares with his friends. After a big feast, Fox realizes he has enough food left over to get him through to summer, when he will know better than to be lazy again. A Kirkus Reviews writer concluded, “Though it lacks the brevity of Aesop, this lightly Christmas-y twist has some charm.”
Knapman worked again with frequent collaborator Joe Berger on the picture book Sometimes I Am Furious. The story portrays all the various things that can happen to make a toddler angry, from an ice cream cone that melts before you can finish it to a boy who refuses to share. Knapman’s text and Berger’s illustrations find the humor in the frustrations that toddlers (and their parents) experience, while also helping children manage the anger they feel when those things happen. “A simple and entertaining introduction to anger management,” wrote a writer in Kirkus Reviews. They emphasized that “children will enjoy the repetition of furious” and learn something along the way. A reviewer in Publishers Weekly emphasized the various techniques the book provides to help toddlers manage and concluded, “While 24-7 equilibrium may not be possible, the creators suggest that knowing it’s within reach can be a big comfort.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, February 1, 2009, Ian Chipman, review of Mungo and the Spiders from Space, p. 46; May 15, 2015, Carolyn Phelan, review of Soon, p. 59; February 15, 2017, Ilene Cooper, review of Time Now to Dream, p. 84.
Books for Keeps, January, 2017, Jill Bennett, review of Time Now to Dream; September, 2019, Diana Barnes, review of Harry in a Hurry.
Children’s Bookwatch, August, 2014, review of Mom’s the Word; March, 2015, review of Soon; April, 2017, review of Good Night Tiger.
Horn Book, March-April, 2017, Roger Sutton, review of Time Now to Dream, p. 72.
Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2007, review of Guess What I Found in Dragon Wood; April 1, 2014, review of Mom’s the Word; January 1, 2015, review of A Monster Moved In!; April 1, 2016, review of Superhero Dad; December 15, 2016, review of Time Now to Dream; August 15, 2017, review of Follow the Track All the Way Back; September 1, 2017, review of The Winter Fox; April 1, 2019, review of Superhero Mom; August 1, 2020, review of Superhero Gran; September 1, 2020, review of The Twelve Unicorns of Christmas; May 1, 2023, review of Sometimes I Am Furious.
Publishers Weekly, January 21, 2008, review of Guess What I Found in Dragon Wood, p. 170; September 14, 2015, review of A Very Pirate Christmas, p. 66; January 16, 2017, review of Time Now to Dream, p. 57; March 11, 2019, review of Superhero Mom, p. 52; September 21, 2020, review of The Twelve Unicorns of Christmas, p. 90; April 24, 2023, review of Sometimes I Am Furious, p. 63.
ONLINE
Nosy Crow, http://www.nosycrow.com/ (December 31, 2017), author profile.
Penguin Book Group website, http://us.penguingroup.com/ (April 24, 2009), “Timothy Knapman.”
Timothy Knapman website, http://www.timothyknapman.co.uk (November 14, 2023).
Walker Books website, http://www.walker.co.uk/ (December 31, 2017), author profile.*
Timothy Knapman studied history at Oxford. Since then, he has spent his time writing plays, musicals, songs, operas and children’s books.
He has written over 60 books, including the best-selling Dinosaurs in the Supermarket and its sequels, Mungo and the Picture Book Pirates and its sequels, Time Now To Dream, Soon, Sir Dancealot, Dinosaurs Don’t Have Bedtimes and Superhero Dad, Mum and Gran. They have been illustrated by a host of wonderful artists, including Helen Oxenbury, Patrick Benson, Sarah Warburton, Adam Stower, Russell Ayto, Joe Berger, Ada Grey, Laura Hughes, Nikki Dyson, David Tazzyman and many more. The books have been translated into 20 languages and have been read on CBeebies Bedtime Stories by Hugh Bonneville, Jenny Agutter, Dennis Lawson, Adrian Lester, Harriet Walter, Tanni Grey-Thompson and many others. Tim has also written for CBeebies’ Driver Dan’s Story Train.
In May 2015, Tim and Laurence Mark Wythe won a competition organised by Perfect Pitch Musicals and Made in Corby to write a brand new musical for the town of Corby in Northamptonshire. Their winning entry, Danny Hero, was performed at the Core theatre in Corby in Autumn 2016 to much acclaim. Reimagined as Danni Hero, it is now licensed by Broadway Licensing. Their show Midnight ran at the Union Theatre in London and is produced every year in Seoul, South Korea with great success. In 2019, Growl: The True Story of the Big Bad Wolf was performed by the National Youth Music Theatre.
With Stuart Matthew Price, Tim wrote the musical love story Before After, which was showcased at the St James Theatre Studio in September 2014, starring Hadley Fraser and Caroline Sheen. The show’s world premiere was at Musical-za in Tokyo the following November, and it was performed there for many years. In September 2020, a rehearsed reading was live-streamed from the Southwark Playhouse in London, starring Hadley Fraser and Rosalie Craig. Thousands of people from 44 countries watched it, and #BeforeAfterUK trended on Twitter. A Dutch production by Oatmilk Studio opened in Autumn 2022. In summer 2017, the NYMT presented Tim and Stuart’s new musical, Imaginary, to great acclaim. Imaginary is licensed by Theatrical Rights Worldwide.
With Alex Silverman and Ed Jaspers, Tim wrote Hamlet! The Musical, which was a big hit at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2010 and won the WhatsOnStage.com Theatregoers’ Choice award for Best Musical. A full-length production played at the Royal & Derngate Northampton and the Richmond Theatre in 2011 (“absurdly clever… there is wit, as well as silliness, in the lyrics… very funny” Guardian).
The Stage called his play, The Stag King, a “darkly magical… and imaginative show, which both challenges and enchants” and UK Theatre Web hailed his adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (directed by Charlotte Conquest): “This is what theatre should be, inventive, witty and filled with great storytelling”.
With the director and dramaturg Simon Greiff of SimG Productions, Tim helped mentor Oliva Tweest, the world’s first Afrobeats musical.
He has often worked as librettist for the world-famous vocal group I Fagiolini. His work for them and others has been performed in the UK and across the world, with premières at the BBC Proms, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Cheltenham Festival, the Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square, the Holywell Music Room and the Dartington International Summer School. He has worked with composers Orlando Gough, Roderick Williams and Richard Peat, and in 2016 the I Fagiolini commission Le Moliere Imaginaire, with music by Andrew Schultz, won the Australian Art Music Award for Vocal/Choral Work of the Year.
The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment commissioned Tim to write a poem in celebration of its 21st birthday. The poem was performed by Simon Callow at the Royal Festival Hall. In 2023, Tim wrote a song with Bob Chilcott in celebration of Harry Christophers, founder of The Sixteen.
Tim has also script edited and written a series of history films for the National Archives’ 2022/3 exhibition Treason: People, Power and Plot, and wrote the film that accompanies its 2024 exhibition Great Escapes.
Tim has appeared on Radio 3’s In Tune and his work has been featured on Classical Collection and The Choir with Aled Jones.
Tim has done more than 100 events and readings in schools, colleges, bookshops, fairs, libraries, at the Chiswick Festival, the Oundle Festival, the Cheltenham Festival of Literature, the Faber Academy, Broadway Training Center, the National Maritime Museum, the English-Speaking Union, Shakespeare’s Globe and the Roald Dahl and Discover Story Centres, as well as having been a visiting lecturer at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and Roehampton University.
His hobbies include swashbuckling.
Knapman, Timothy THE GREEDY WOLF Candlewick (Children's None) $18.99 1, 21 ISBN: 9781536240696
In this retelling of "The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats," a hungry predator gets his comeuppance.
A mother goat leaves her children home alone just as the wolf is passing by. He attempts to gain entrance, first pretending to be a mailman, then telling them he's selling ice cream. Each time, the young goats refuse to let him in. But maybe they'll open up for a "talking rosebush with a flowerpot on my head." Once the kids finally welcome him in, the wolf is sure he'll obtain a full meal. But as it turns out, he's not the only one with ulterior motives. This updated version fails to capture the spirit of the more elegantly constructed original, which saw both the wolf and the goats attempting to outwit each other, nor is it funny or clever enough to stand on its own. The storyline veers from one absurd notion to another without any sense of intention; it's unclear why the wolf decides to dress up as a rosebush, for instance. Relying mostly on shock value, the conclusion doesn't make much sense; it's a subversive take on the original, but that will likely go over the heads of young readers unfamiliar with the source material. The scraggly, flat illustrations feel a bit sloppy but might elicit some giggles.
A lackluster, unfocused adaptation.(Picture book. 3-7)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Knapman, Timothy: THE GREEDY WOLF." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A825128341/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=dab3c94f. Accessed 9 Nov. 2025.
Knapman, Timothy OH NO! DINOSAURS IN THE SUPERMARKET Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (Children's None) $14.99 11, 4 ISBN: 9781728290980
The title says it all.
An unnamed, pale-skinned young boy clad in a scaly-looking sweater accompanies his mother on a trip to the supermarket. As Mom pushes the shopping cart, the boy detects a bunch of dinosaurs all throughout the store. Stegosaurs, apatosaurs, iguanodons, triceratops, and more alternatively consume, knock over, or toss goods all over the place. Every adult remains oblivious as the dinosaurs conceal themselves in the displays right under their noses. But the grown-upscan see the giant messes created by the chaotic reptiles. The boy tries to reveal the secret, pointing at gloopy, three-toed footprints, but the adults dismiss his claim as ridiculous. Fearful that he'll be blamed for the messes, the boy convinces the dinosaurs to play a clean-up game. Just as the youngster is getting credit for tidying the supermarket, the dinosaurs have one final trick to play. This bit-of-silliness story is straightforward in concept and execution. Young readers can take pleasure from being in on the joke while deriving an extra layer of amusement from searching for the dinos as they hide throughout the aisles. Warburton's images, a combination of pencil drawings and mixed-media textures, are incredibly dynamic and expressive, enhanced by interesting perspective angles and awash in varied, gradiated colors. Informative endpapers provide pronunciation guides for the various dino species.
Good for a laugh.(Picture book. 3-6)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Knapman, Timothy: OH NO! DINOSAURS IN THE SUPERMARKET." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A851177733/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=cf63d45a. Accessed 9 Nov. 2025.