Picturing the Wolf in Children's Literature

From the villainous beast of a oeLittle Red Riding Hooda and a oeThe Three Little Pigs, a to the nurturing wolves of Romulus and Remus and Rudyard Kiplinga (TM)s The Jungle Book, the wolf has long been a part of the landscape of childrena (TM)s literature. Meanwhile, since the 1960s and the popularization of scientific research on these animals, childrena (TM)s books have begun to feature more nuanced views. In Picturing the Wolf in Childrena (TM)s Literature, Mitts-Smith analyzes visual images of the wolf in childrena (TM)s books published in Western Europe and North America from 1500 to the present. In particular, she considers how wolves are depicted in and across particular works, the values and attitudes that inform these depictions, and how the concept of the wolf has changed over time. What she discovers is that illustrations and photos in works for children impart social, cultural, and scientific information not only about wolves, but also about humans and human behavior.

First encountered in childhood, picture books act as a training ground where the young learn both how to decode the a oesymbolica wolf across various contexts and how to make sense of a oereala wolves. Mitts-Smith studies sources including myths, legends, fables, folk and fairy tales, fractured tales, fictional stories, and nonfiction, highlighting those instances in which images play a major role, including illustrated anthologies, chapbooks, picture books, and informational books. This book will be of interest to childrena (TM)s literature scholars, as well as those interested in the figure of the wolf and how it has been informed over time.