Picturing the Wolf in Children's Literature

<p>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. </p> <p> </p>