Wilfred is a cute little story about friendship and what it means. This was not an OMG! THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVER book; but as also not the worse book ever. There is much to like and dislike. This story that Ryan T. Higgins created is a mile may vary book. Wilfred is not the best-looking creature, but not necessarily not cute. The story has overtures to Rudolph’s Bumble. Bumble wanted a job, and Wilfred just wants a friend. What comes out of it is a story of a pet and his boy.
The images (such as Wilfred) are an interesting mixture of “cute” and “um…okay.” The people, mostly due to their baldness (story plot hole: it is never reviled why the entire town is bald), reminded me of Gris Grimly’s artwork. It is not an apple to apples comparison, more apples to oranges, but it would not be surprising if Higgins has been influenced by Grimly.
The issue that I had over all was the two large pieces of the plot. First: The boy orders Wilfred to do something (sit, stand on one foot, play golf) and Wilfred does. That imbalanced friendship brings the pet part of the story into play. The other plot hole is, do the towns people learn from their mistake? That is never really fleshed out.
If you are a fan of Higgins and his books in the Bruce the Bear series, this goes right along with that humor and concept. The same tone can be heard in the series and in Wilfred.