Into the Wild Childhood: A Study of Wildness in Three 21st-Century Picturebooks
Into the Wild Childhood: A Study of Wildness in Three 21st-Century Picturebooks

Summary/Abstract: While the majority of the ‘wild’ children’s literature presents male human char­acters, in the 21st century, there is an increasing tendency to publish texts showing a different kind of wildness. In this article, the author analyses three picturebooks published in the 21st century that feature protagonists other than male and/or hu­man: a wild girl (Wild by Emily Hughes, 2012), a pet dog (Such a Good Boy by Mari­anna Coppo, 2020), and a wild tiger (Mr Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown, 2013). She investigates to what extent (if any) non-male and/or non-human wildness in these works differs from the most popular one in children’s literature. The author analyses the concept of wildness in the context of a famous children’s picturebook featuring a wild protagonist, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (1963), and other cultural texts using this motif.

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