Picturebook · Book-object · 2024
The Big Bad Wolf with a Toothache
A picturebook in which turning the pages transforms the book itself into the Big Bad Wolf’s mouth.
Written, illustrated and designed by
Daniel Kondo
Published in Brazil by
Carambaia
The story
Even the Big Bad Wolf needs help sometimes.
Everyone knows the Big Bad Wolf: enormous eyes, sharp teeth and enough breath to blow a house down. This time, however, he has an unbearable toothache.
Desperate for help, he turns to some very familiar characters: the Three Little Pigs, the Seven Little Goats and Little Red Riding Hood’s Grandma.
Eventually, there is only one person left to ask.
The book as narrative
The book becomes the wolf’s mouth.
The vertical format changes the familiar gesture of reading. The reader turns the volume and moves through the pages from bottom to top. As the story advances, the physical book progressively assumes the shape of the wolf’s open mouth.
Page turn, scale, repetition and timing carry part of the narrative. Handling the object becomes part of the action.
Visual language
Fear, reduced to shape.
The visual language works through graphic synthesis, contrast, repetition and a deliberately restricted palette. The wolf is simultaneously threatening and absurd: a character traditionally defined by power suddenly finds himself vulnerable.
The project draws on Daniel Kondo’s dialogue with Japanese graphic culture, particularly the formal economy of Ikko Tanaka and the animal imagery of Kazumasa Nagai, while also paying homage to Katsushika Hokusai.
- Ikko Tanaka graphic synthesis & form
- Kazumasa Nagai animal imagery & tension
- Katsushika Hokusai visual homage
Awards & recognition
Recognized in illustration, literature and editorial design.
3rd Prize · Graphic Design · 2025
Editorial Design · Books · 2025
Featured among “8 livros brincantes”
Critical reception
Where form and story meet.
Critical recognition for the book and its reading experience.
Press coverage reproduced by publisher Carambaia.
Um lobo com fome de literatura
Dirce Waltrick do Amarante examines the relationship between graphic structure and narrative.
Editorial design as part of the storytelling.
Coverage of the book’s design recognition and material construction.
Book details
The original Brazilian edition.
- Original title
- Lobo Mau com Dor de Dente
- English title
- The Big Bad Wolf with a Toothache
- Text, illustration & design
- Daniel Kondo
- Publisher
- Carambaia
- Country
- Brazil
- Publication
- 2024
- Original language
- Portuguese
- Pages
- 48
- Format
- Hardcover picturebook / book-object
- Dimensions
- 14.8 × 28.7 × 1.5 cm
- ISBN
- 978-65-5461-079-7
International rights
Meet the wolf.
View the international rights presentation for The Big Bad Wolf with a Toothache, with information for publishers, agents and international partners.
View rights presentation ↗