Little Wise Wolf
By Gijs van der Hammen and Hannneke Siemensma
-
was born in the Netherlands. He writes stories and poems for children. Little Wise Wolf is his first book published in English.
-
lives in the Netherlands. In 2020 she was nominated for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal for her work with LIttle Wise Wolf.
-
Book Island 2018
-
3-7
Little Wise Wolf loves reading. Usually, it’s a good thing but he gets a bit bigheaded and forgets that the world is bigger than he can imagine. The forest where he lives is full of amazing creatures who he never pays any attention to. One day, he unfortunately learns his lesson and realises his forest friends are there for him.
I read this book with 4-5 year-old children. Firstly, we talk about the wraparound book cover art. Little Wise Wolf is walking in the wilderness in his lovely red wellies. Where is he heading to? I love his wee bag. Is he a postman? Why is the goat watching him and not joining in?
According to a researcher William Moebius “It often matters whether the main character is depicted high or low on the page, in the centre or on the fringe, on the lefthand side or the right... Height on the page may be an indication of an ecstatic condition... or dream-vision... or a mark of social status or power... Being low on the page is often by contrast a signal of low spirits... or of unfavorable social status... A character shown on the left page is likely to be in a more secure, albeit potentially confined space than one shown on the right, who is more likely to be moving into a situation of risk or adventure.”
Little Wise Wolf is placed in the centre but slightly higher that we expect. The goat is placed below and is looking up at him and to him. This is a trick illustrators use a lot. I explain to my students that it is very possible that Hanneke wanted to show us the following things:
Little Wise Wolf is quite confident, at least at this point of his journey (central position above other characters).
Goat looks up to him and respects him. Maybe he is looking down at Goat.
Little Wise Wolf is going to be in trouble. He is heading right but his path is full of obstacles. It often means problems and issues are lurking ahead.
He is tiny compared to other elements on the page. Larger figures often convey power or importance. And later on we are going to learn that a forest can be an extremely challenging journey for a little creature even if it’s wise and educated.
At first, I explain to my students how illustrators communicate with us through pictures. Sometimes, children just have a natural feeling. For example, if the picture is very dark and grey, they think the book is going to be sad. But there are so many tricks and tools that illustrators use, that we best learn about them. A few books later students start picking up on those elements. Like with this book - some will say that Little Wise Wolf is going to a party with his friends; others will know just looking at the book cover that Wolf and Goat are not friends.
Book in book out I repeat to children what codes of position we can spot. It’s ok if they can’t see them yet. They will in a few lessons. Those tools are used throughout all types of picturebooks and we can choose to learn about them to be able to decode illustrations. If you know what you’re looking for, it works with any age group.
I talk with my students about all the good things books offer us. We discuss reading and learning about the world. I know that reading stands between Little Wise Wolf and reality but I don’t comment on it yet. Let your little readers explore the text and come to their own conclusions.
Later we realise that he is a bit bigheaded and too confident. Little Wise Wolf refuses to talk to other animals in the forest as he is too busy reading and learning. I suggest talking about being nice, helpful and friendly.
Everything changes when a crow comes and informs him rather officially that he has to go and see the king. He refuses. The crow says when the king tells you, you have to go. This is the first time in the story Little Wise Wolf faces reality. He has to go and he can’t get out of it as he does all the time. So he sets off.
We can follow him on his way to the king. Up and down, up and down he goes. We are invited to trace his path. It’s good for reading with the youngest children because they can easily follow and describe everything happening on the way.
His journey isn’t easy. On this page, he loses his welly but I don’t tell my students about it. If they notice - good. But usually they don’t and it’s even better because later on we see him wearing only one welly and we start looking for it. We go back, flick through the pages and finally find the missing welly.
This picture is an example of a complementary illustration. It means that it adds to the text, it doesn’t just copy what the text says. Compare it with Peppa Pig. The picture doesn’t add anything to the story. If you read the text and don’t even look at the illustration, you don’t miss anything. It can be even in an audio book format where pictures don’t matter. Little Wise Wolf will be missing loads without pictures.
How skilfully Hanneke Siemensma plays with perspective. Little Wise Wolf is unable to see the animals who are following him. We can see them and guess why they are there, but Wolf is absolutely in the dark. He has blinkers on, metaphorically speaking, but literally as well because he can’t see in the dark or behind and over rocks. He can’t see the wood for the trees.
Little Wise Wolf is travelling back home now. And we can see that he is heading to the left. The left side of the picture is traditionally associated with home, safety, finishing a journey, coming back and resting. There are a lot of very similar examples in literature. You can see in Where the Wild Things Are how the boy heads to the right at the start of his journey and how the dog runs to the left to safety.
The horizon also tells stories in books. Compare those illustrations. When he is in trouble or feels down, the horizon blurs and disappears. When he is not top bad, it’s clear enough.
