Good Little Wolf

First picture books are so often let down by a story that doesn’t really work but Nadia Shireen’s debut picture book, which she wrote and illustrated, is wittily and tightly constructed and perfectly pitched to engage young readers.

Rolf is a ‘good little wolf’ and he enjoys being good. He enjoys cooking, he eats up all his vegetables and his friends include Little Pig and Mrs Boggins, an old lady who likes knitting. But when he meets the Big Bad Wolf, Rolf is told that he should be howling at the moon, blowing in houses and eating people up. Rolf has a go at howling and trying to blow in a house without much success but when Big Bad Wolf suggests that he should eat Mrs Boggins, Rolf finds the big, bad part of himself.

The delights of this multi-layered tale are many and resonant. Young readers will identify with Rolf, the good little wolf but also, of course, with the Big Bad Wolf and with the conflict these parts of the self engender. Rolf finding his own ‘big, bad’ part and then using it for good (he rescues Mrs Boggins) presents a creative way forward to which young readers will respond, albeit at an unconscious level. Then we have Shireen’s interplay of text and illustration which is consummate: a climactic spread when Rolf first encounters the Big Bad Wolf is rightly, sans paroles. Her stylised illustrations require their pared down elements to work hard – Rolf’s quivering fur and the Big Bad Wolf’s sinisterly lolling red tongue for example. Eyes are minimalist circles with dots – yet how expressively they convey feeling and intent! Even the title page lettering with ‘Good Little’ written in tight cord while ’Wolf’ is written in tension-full black fur letters heralds the pleasures within. Superb!