From cherished childhood memories to high school there are children's books with animal characters in them. Pre-school and early grades have Peter Rabbit and Beatrice Potter's other fine animal characters along with Winnie the Pooh and his friends. Busy Busy Town gives us many different animals and a worm or two that are living and working like us regular people do, the Little Bear books let our young ones experience wonderful stories full of innocents portrayed by animals and the Little Critter books are wonderful stories encompassing life's ups and downs for young people with the characters as what I believe to be some sort of guinea pig, I absolutely love them! For the just a bit older children we have Charlotte's Web, it is full of imagination and friendship.
I guess we all think of ourselves as growing out of animal character books when we leave elementary school but I have some suggestions that are for older children or even adults which might surprise you.
The Golden Compass is a great story and does have many animal characters in it and one bigger than life character that is a polar bear. The Jungle Book has been around for a long time and most people think of it in the Disney way but Rudyard Kipling wrote it a long time ago and it is really more of at least a middle grade book if not all the way to high school. A book that has been somewhat forgotten today is Uncle Remus, the author uses animals to tell his stories and make several profound points. The language is a bit difficult for young readers and maybe the profound points could get lost if not read to them and explained so this book too would be for middle grade or high school readers.
The last book on my list is Gulliver's Travels and yes most of us think of the Lilliputians when we think of Gulliver's Travels and you may be wondering where the animal characters are. The last place Gulliver travels to in his journeys is a place where horses are the evolved race that are in charge of everything. He thinks that they are the most perfect people he has ever met and wants to live with them forever but isn't allowed because he is not as good as they are. This book was really written for adults and has many societal meanings in it dealing with otherness and acceptance. It can and has been modified for young readers but it was originally written in the hopes of helping people see that differences can make a society better or can make it worse depending on how those differences are treated.
• Peter Rabbit by Beatrice Potter
• Little Critter by Mercer Mayer
• Little Bear by Elsa Holmelund Minarik
• Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
• Busy Busy Town by Richard Scarry
• Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
• The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
• The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
• Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris
• Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
I haven't as yet included an animal character in any of my stories but as you may have guessed I am thinking about it...
I guess we all think of ourselves as growing out of animal character books when we leave elementary school but I have some suggestions that are for older children or even adults which might surprise you.
The Golden Compass is a great story and does have many animal characters in it and one bigger than life character that is a polar bear. The Jungle Book has been around for a long time and most people think of it in the Disney way but Rudyard Kipling wrote it a long time ago and it is really more of at least a middle grade book if not all the way to high school. A book that has been somewhat forgotten today is Uncle Remus, the author uses animals to tell his stories and make several profound points. The language is a bit difficult for young readers and maybe the profound points could get lost if not read to them and explained so this book too would be for middle grade or high school readers.
The last book on my list is Gulliver's Travels and yes most of us think of the Lilliputians when we think of Gulliver's Travels and you may be wondering where the animal characters are. The last place Gulliver travels to in his journeys is a place where horses are the evolved race that are in charge of everything. He thinks that they are the most perfect people he has ever met and wants to live with them forever but isn't allowed because he is not as good as they are. This book was really written for adults and has many societal meanings in it dealing with otherness and acceptance. It can and has been modified for young readers but it was originally written in the hopes of helping people see that differences can make a society better or can make it worse depending on how those differences are treated.
• Peter Rabbit by Beatrice Potter
• Little Critter by Mercer Mayer
• Little Bear by Elsa Holmelund Minarik
• Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
• Busy Busy Town by Richard Scarry
• Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
• The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
• The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
• Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris
• Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
I haven't as yet included an animal character in any of my stories but as you may have guessed I am thinking about it...
Julie L. Worthington is a writer of fantasy adventure and science-fiction middle-grade and young adult books along with short stories. She is passionate about children's literature both old and new. To find out more or to read some of her work go to http://www.julieworthington.com
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