M's reading of Wolves

There is a good children's book called Wolves that tells the story in pictures more than the written text, which is the words to a book that rabbit checks out called Wolves. So it is a book within a book that the reader gets to see. As the rabbit reads, he ends up wandering onto a wolf's nose.

M basically thought that the wolf was the rabbit's mommy. When a small boy in a story is not pictured with a mommy, he will ask where his mommy is. Also, the man with the yellow hat is read by him as curious george's daddy.

I'm not sure about this imposing of my reading, but I told him that the wolf and the rabbit become best friends (the alternate version of the ending where the wolf is a vegetarian, and they enjoy a jam sandwich together).

At this juncture, M is rooted in his family and wants to know where characters' parents are. It is certainly from his point of view and experience of the world that he reads this way.

How is the wolf like a parent (threatening to destroy or being a friend--is this how he experiences me?!)? Definitely, the wolf is shown as the powerful one. The rabbit is the lesser experienced one. There are not other characters in the book, so it is exclusively about the small animal and the big one.

But I wonder about: Why is the big one the threatening, but really also gentle one? Isn't the wolf darker and more urban looking with the hood on? How does the alternate endings play with the idea of subverting the dominant discourses on wolves or not?