“The big bad wolf of fairy tales has long been the archetypal villain of children’s fiction: the ferocious predator with gleaming teeth you might encounter if you venture too far into the woods. He still lives, sometimes in darker versions. subversive of the traditional fairy tale meanwhile, their distant cousin, the werewolf, plays through countless young adult movies and novels, proving that wolf monsters still retain their ability to thrill and terrify.
but there is another side of the wolf. These highly social, intelligent animals, with their hierarchies and pack loyalty, also evoke strong feelings of sympathy in many humans. pushed to the farthest reaches of the human world, they represent a savagery that we rarely encounter or experience for ourselves, but in which there is something alluring and dangerous.
You are reading: Childrens books about wolves
my own book, wolfie, grew out of the idea that a girl can, like many boys, long for a dog…but end up with something quite different. her new companion, fang, is not the big bad wolf of traditional tales, in fact, in many ways she is a most civilized creature, but she retains that edge of danger that belongs to any wolf… yes, even to those who speak “
Emma Barnes is the author of several children’s books, including Jessica Haggerthwaite: Dispatcher of Witches about a scientist daughter and her magic-mad mother, and How to (Not) Make Bad Kids Good, a moral comedy about a child mischievous and a guardian agent.
buy wolfie at the guardian bookstore
1. little red riding hood
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First written by Charles Perrault in the 17th century, this story has never lost control of our imagination. a little girl in a red cape, with a basket full of goodies, ventures into the big dark forest…and what does she find? there have been many versions, some very creepy (little red riding hood and granny eat them), some more lighthearted, and of course there is roald dahl’s rhyming twist in the tale: “the little girl smiles. her eyelid blinks. she pulls a gun from her panties”. As long as people are telling stories, they will be telling and retelling Little Red Riding Hood.
2. the three little pigs
Another outing for a big bad wolf, this time in search of three innocent little pigs. who doesn’t like the words, “I’ll huff and puff and blow your house down!” however, jon scieszka in the true story of the three little pigs has written it from the wolf’s point of view, explaining how he just wanted to borrow a cup of sugar from his pig neighbors!
3. the wolf lord and the three bears by jan temal
mr. Wolf is throwing a party for Baby Bear’s birthday, but then Goldilocks, a spoiled brat, shows up determined to ruin the show. but he hasn’t reckoned with Grandma Wolf, who is soon put to work in the kitchen…there’s a very wicked twist to this story that young children enjoy (as do anyone who has suffered from trespassers). Although there are many subversive fairy tales to choose from, I especially like this picture book, with the bright-eyed grandma in her cap and apron, and lots of delicious recipes.
4. clever polly and the stupid wolf by catherine storr
In this wonderful collection of stories, Polly is chased by a wolf who, in traditional fairy tale wolf fashion, is determined to devour her. Polly, however, has enough wit and wit to outsmart anyone and sometimes she feels sorry for her opponent. Many of the stories are twists on traditional fairy tales, although at one point the wolf is captured and put in a zoo, where he has to trust Polly to come up with a plan to get him out. I especially love the wolf’s favorite poem, which begins, “Monday’s child is tough enough, Tuesday’s child is tender enough…” and the wolf explains, “it makes you feel like you understand life for the first time , as proper poetry”. .
5. the little wolf book of wickedness by ian whybrow
poor wolf! he doesn’t want to be mean, he just wants to stay home with mom, dad and his smelly little brother. but his parents feel that his troubling kindness needs to be nipped in the bud, and they send him to cunning college with uncle bigbad. here he can learn the nine rules of evil and hopefully become as wild and evil as dad. This story, the first in a series, is told through the little wolf’s letters home, and it’s a lot of fun.
6. little house in the great woods by laura ingalls wilder
This is a bit misleading, as when I looked back at the book I realized that it wasn’t as full of wolves as I remembered, and many of the encounters involved panthers or bears. but my permanent impression is of the girl laura, tucked up in her trundle bed, while outside the wolves howl in the snow around her log cabin. It’s a detailed description of a vanished world where the wolf and the human lived in close proximity: hunters like Laura’s father soon exhausted the game, and the wolves and other creatures began their long retreat into the shrinking wilderness.
7. jrr tolkien’s hobbit
Who can forget Thorin’s company of 12 dwarfs, Gandalf the wizard and Bilbo the hobbit, all perched in the pine trees, while wild wargs circle below them? makes bilbo frame a proverb: “fleeing from goblins to be caught by wolves!” Although, of course, they escape from the wargs, with the help of Gandalf’s firestaff and the eagles of the misty mountains. Like much of the Hobbit, it’s an episode that magically manages to combine the funny and the terrifying, even though Bilbo hasn’t seen the last of the direwolves!
8. scarlet warrior by rosemary sutcliff
drem is a bronze age boy with a withered arm. in his tribe, initiation into manhood requires the killing of a wolf. drem trains with a spear, one-handed, but when the time comes, his wolf escapes and drem is sent into exile with the “means”. only when winter falls and the wolves approach the lamb pens does sleep get another chance. although the wolves are savage predators in this book, they are driven by hunger, just like the men who hunt them. and one of drem’s closest friendships is with whitethroat, his hound sired by a wolf.
9. white fang of jack london
This classic book was perhaps the first to really attempt to get into the mind of a wolf (indeed, a half-wolf, half-dog hybrid) on its own turf. jack london is wonderful in creating a sense of wild nature, in its beauty and harshness, and the violence of the animal and human worlds. a compelling read, but not an easy or comforting one.
10. wolf brother of michelle paver
The first book of the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness is set in a magic-filled hunter-gatherer world some six thousand years ago. Torak’s father has been killed, leaving his son to face off against an evil bear-shaped demon. Wandering alone, Torak comes across an orphaned wolf cub and adopts it as his mate. a fast-paced adventure in which part of the story is told from the wolf’s perspective.
and an additional one because I can’t bear to leave it out:
julia de los lobos by jean craighead george
this newbury award winner is the story of a 13-year-old inuit girl, miyax (or julie, to her americanized friends), who flees an arranged marriage and ventures into the frigid wilderness of alaska. there she finally learns to communicate with a pack of wolves and is adopted by them. is a beautiful yet moving novel about the changes brought about by modern technology and civilization, and about a girl caught between two cultures. Unsurprisingly, things aren’t going well for the wolves either.
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