Beware the deep dark forest by Sue Whiting illustrated by Annie White

This place is creepy, 

thought Rose.

And she opened her eyes

till they were as round as the moon.

Tinky is just a tiny pup. He doesn't understand the warning to stay away from the deep, dark forest. When he runs off Rosie has to conquer her fear and plunge in after him even though she is warned about the venomous snakes and carnivorous plants that lie in wait to attack her.

In the spirit of We're going on a Bear Hunt, Rosie bravely sets off into the unknown.  She does not encounter any carnivorous plants or venomous snakes but she does have to sneak past a ferocious sleeping wolf, make and swing on a vine rope across a chasm because the flimsy bridge is broken and finally confront an enormous and hungry troll. There is NO WAY Rosie will become dinner for this troll.

She grabs hold of her pup and then:

She swung across the dizzily deep ravine.
She slipped past the bristly brute of a wolf.
She squelched back through the deep and dark and muddy forest.

Here is a set of detailed teachers notes which focus on the story structure, characters and most important of all the language devices used by Sue Whiting such as alliteration and repetition. Annie White makes good use of font size and form along with huge bold capital letters when Rosie yells at the troll "I'M NOT DINNER! I'M ROSIE! I also love the colour palette she uses with lots of bright green and with splashes of red.  You can read how a young boy in a cape inspired this book.

Children in my school library often ask for 'scary books'. I think Beware the deep dark forest will meet this criteria. The troll is huge and perhaps a little frightening but the way Rosie scares HIM is sure to make a young audience howl with delight.

I do hope this book is selected for the CBCA 2019 short list along with Boat of Stars and Rainbow Bear.

That most of us will go to any lengths to save the thing we love, is the dominant theme in this book. It is a story of courage played out by a young girl who wants to save her young impetuous pup who doesn’t know what danger is, and is bent on discovering the world beyond his boundaries. Kids' Book Review

Beware the deep dark forest is a 2019 CBCA Notable book (Early Childhood).

Image source Cockburn Libraries : 

https://www.cockburnlibraries.com.au/kids/childrens-book-week-kids/book-of-the-year-early-childhood/

I would pair Beware the deep dark forest with Scary Night by Lesley Gibbes and Dragon Quest by Allan Baillie.  With a group of older students you could compare this book with Into the Forest and/or The Tunnel by Anthony Browne.