Picturing the Wolf in Children's Literature
From the villainous beast of “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Three Little Pigs,” to the nurturing wolves of Romulus and Remus and Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, the wolf has long been a part of the landscape of children’s literature. Meanwhile, since the 1960s and the popularization of scientific research on these animals, children’s books have begun to feature more nuanced views. In Picturing the Wolf in Children’s Literature, Mitts-Smith analyzes visual images of the wolf in children’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 “symbolic” wolf across various contexts and how to make sense of “real” 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 children’s literature scholars, as well as those interested in the figure of the wolf and how it has been informed over time.

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Picturing the Wolf in Children's Literature
From the villainous beast of “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Three Little Pigs,” to the nurturing wolves of Romulus and Remus and Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, the wolf has long been a part of the landscape of children’s literature. Meanwhile, since the 1960s and the popularization of scientific research on these animals, children’s books have begun to feature more nuanced views. In Picturing the Wolf in Children’s Literature, Mitts-Smith analyzes visual images of the wolf in children’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 “symbolic” wolf across various contexts and how to make sense of “real” 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 children’s literature scholars, as well as those interested in the figure of the wolf and how it has been informed over time.

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Picturing the Wolf in Children's Literature

Picturing the Wolf in Children's Literature

by Debra Mitts-Smith
Picturing the Wolf in Children's Literature
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Picturing the Wolf in Children's Literature

Picturing the Wolf in Children's Literature

by Debra Mitts-Smith

Overview

From the villainous beast of “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Three Little Pigs,” to the nurturing wolves of Romulus and Remus and Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, the wolf has long been a part of the landscape of children’s literature. Meanwhile, since the 1960s and the popularization of scientific research on these animals, children’s books have begun to feature more nuanced views. In Picturing the Wolf in Children’s Literature, Mitts-Smith analyzes visual images of the wolf in children’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 “symbolic” wolf across various contexts and how to make sense of “real” 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 children’s literature scholars, as well as those interested in the figure of the wolf and how it has been informed over time.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780415801171
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Publication date: 06/24/2010
Series: Children's Literature and Culture , #69
Pages: 234
Product dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Debra Mitts-Smith teaches children’s and young adult literature at the University of Illinois. She has Master’s degrees in French and Library and Information Science and a PhD from the University of Illinois. Her publications include articles in Princeton University Library Chronicle and Library Trends, and a book chapter in From Colonialism to the Contemporary: Intertextual Transformation in World Children’s and Youth Literature. Debra and her husband Marschall live in Minnesota with their three dogs, five cats, and eight ducks.

Table of Contents

List of Figures xi

Series Editor's Foreword xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Wolf as Predator 25

Chapter 2 Wolf as Social Being 51

Chapter 3 Wolf Undone 71

Chapter 4 Wolf as Canine 91

Chapter 5 Hunted and Endangered 111

Chapter 6 Feral Children and Tame Wolves 129

Chapter 7 Transcending Literature 153

Bibliography 157

Index 173

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