Animal Stories: Fantasy

If your dog put on trousers and brought you the morning paper and a cup of coffee, you probably wouldn't accept them quietly and start reading the sports page. While most characters in literature who encounter talking animals aren't that nonchalant about it, they seem a lot more accepting of bizarre phenomena than most real people would be. Is it just because they're characters in books? or is it because animals actually have quite a bit to tell us about human nature and the realities of the world we occupy?

There are real-life precedents for talking animals—parrots can speak, crows can acquire human vocabularies, and Balaam's donkey carried on a conversation with the reluctant prophet. Granted, birds with the vocal capacity for imitative speech and supernaturally gifted pack animals aren't really in the same league, but you get the idea. Just because most animals don't talk doesn't mean none of them can.

We're not suggesting Narnia is a real place, or rabbits actually have detailed mythologies, at least not in the sense most people would use words like "real" and "actual." But there are books about Aslan, and there are books about Bigwig and Fiver, Matthias the Mouse, and Mr. Toad, and in that sense those places and characters are real and actual. More importantly, what they tell us about life itself (through their stories, not over afternoon tea) is often true and real and actual.

Basically, stories about animals who apparel themselves in anything other than their own skin and fur, animals that fight with swords instead of claws and teeth, animals who bake their food rather than eating it raw or off the ground, animals that speak (either to humans or each other)—any story we carry of this kind will be found here. While animal fantasy shouldn't displace all other reading, it's important to remember that, in the end, there's very little meaningful difference between a character like Tom Sawyer and one like Abel the Mouse.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.

 

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91 Items found Print
Active Filters: 3rd grade (Ages 8-9), Hardcover, In-Stock Books & Materials
Adventures of Jimmy Skunk
by Thornton W. Burgess, illustrated by Harrison Cady
1920 Printing from Little, Brown & Company
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, retold & illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
1st Ed. from Chronicle Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$19.99
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Heidi Holder
1st edition from Viking Press
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Macmillan
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.99
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Michael Hague
from Henry Holt and Company
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Babar the King
by Jean de Brunhoff
from Random House
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$15.95
Baby Sister for Frances
by Russell & Lillian Hoban
from Atlas Editions
Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Bear Called Paddington
by Michael Bond
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 2nd-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$10.99
Bedtime for Frances
by Russell Hoban
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$16.99
Bellmaker
by Brian Jacques
from Philomel Books
for 3rd-7th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Bunnicula
Bunnicula #1
by James Howe
2nd edition from Atheneum
Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade
Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Burgess Animal Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
for 2nd-6th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$24.64
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$24.64
Burgess Flower Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$24.64
Charlotte's Web
by E. B. White
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$16.99
Charlotte's Web
by E. B. White
from The Folio Society
for 2nd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Charlotte's Web
by E. B. White
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-6th grade
1953 Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Classic Treasury of Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Don Daily
from Running Press
for 2nd-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$11.99
Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter
by Beatrix Potter
from Frederick Warne & Company
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-3rd grade
in Peter Rabbit & Friends (Location: FIC-PETER)
$32.00
Delver's Danger
Smithsonian Wild Heritage Collection
by Susan Thompson-Hoffman, illustrated by Eileen Major Buzzanco
from Trudy Corporation
for 1st-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Digging-est Dog
by Al Perkins
from Random House
for Kindergarten-3rd Grade
in Beginner Books (Location: EAR-BB)
$9.99
Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins
by Barbara Kerley
from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool-3rd Grade
2002 Caldecott Honor Book, NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$19.99
Elephant's Child
by Rudyard Kipling
2nd Printing from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 2nd-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Fables of Aesop
by Aesop, selected & illustrated by David Levine, translated by Patrick & Justina Gregory
from Gambit
for 2nd-4th grade
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Flotsam
by David Wiesner
from Clarion Books
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
2007 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
Frog and Toad Are Friends
An I Can Read Book Level 2
by Arnold Lobel
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
1971 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$11.89 (1 in stock)
Guess How Much I Love You
by Sam McBratney, illustrations by Anita Jeram
from Candlewick Press
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$16.99
Hippo Lemonade
by Mike Thaler
WRBC from HarperCollins
for 2nd-4th grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Horton Hears a Who!
by Dr. Seuss
from Random House
Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$16.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
House at Pooh Corner
by A. A. Milne
from Dutton Children's Books
Animal Fantasy for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$19.99
Infamous Ratsos: Project Fluffy
by Kara LaReau, Illustrated by Matt Myers
from Candlewick Press
for 1st-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Into the Jungle
by Katherine Rundell, Illustrated by Kristjana S. Williams
from Walker Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$24.99
Just So Stories
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Safaya Salter
from Henry Holt and Company
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
Kenny & the Dragon
by Tony DiTerlizzi
First Edition from Simon and Schuster
for 1st-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$17.99
Marzipan Pig
by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Quentin Blake
from New York Review of Books
for 1st-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Mercy Watson Fights Crime
by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen
Library Binding from Candlewick Press
for 1st-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Mercy Watson to the Rescue
by Kate DiCamillo
1st edition from Candlewick Press
for 2nd-3rd grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Misoso
by Verna Aardema
illustrated edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Mitten
by Jan Brett
Rei/Cas from Putnam Juvenile
Animal Fantasy for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$19.99
More About Paddington
by Michael Bond
from Houghton Mifflin
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mr. and Mrs. Bunny - Detectives Extraordinaire!
by Mrs. Bunny, translated from the Rabbit by Polly Horvath, illustrated by Sophie Blackall
from Schwartz & Wade
for 2nd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
New Shoes
from First Second
for Preschool-4th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$19.99 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Paddington Abroad
by Michael Bond, illustrated by Peggy Fortnum
Book Club Edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 2nd-4th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Paddington At Large RUC
by Michael Bond
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-6th grade
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$9.99
Paddington Helps Out
by Michael Bond
Revised from HarperCollins
for 2nd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$9.99
Paddington Here and Now
Paddington Bear #12
by Michael Bond
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-7th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$9.99
Paddington Marches On
by Michael Bond
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$9.99
Paddington Marches On
by Michael Bond
Book Club Edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 2nd-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Paddington Races Ahead
by Michael Bond
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-7th grade
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$9.99
Paddington Takes the Test
by Michael Bond
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-7th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$9.99
Paddington Treasury
by Michael Bond, illustrated by R. W. Alley
1st edition from HarperCollins
for 2nd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$27.99
Paddington's Finest Hour
by Michael Bond
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 2nd-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$9.99
Pegasus
by Marianna Mayer & K. Y. Craft
1st ed from HarperCollins
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
Poppy and Rye
Poppy Stories #3
by Avi
1st edition from HarperCollins
Animal Stories: Fantasy for 3rd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$9.99
Prince Caspian
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-12th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Puppy Who Wanted a Boy
by Jane Thayer, Illustrated by Lisa McCue
from William Morrow & Company
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit
Book 20
by Beatrix Potter
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Peter Rabbit & Friends (Location: FIC-PETER)
$6.99
Story of Babar the Little Elephant
by Jean De Brunhoff
from Random House Books for Young Readers
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$18.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Doctor Dolittle
by Hugh Lofting
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 3rd-4th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Stuart Little
by E.B. White
from Harper & Row
Animal Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Stuart Little
by E. B. White; illustrated by Garth Williams
4th Edition from Harper & Row
Animal Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
by William Steig
from Simon and Schuster
Animal Fantasy for Kindergarten-3rd grade
1970 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$19.99
Tale of Ginger and Pickles
Book 18
by Beatrix Potter
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Peter Rabbit & Friends (Location: FIC-PETER)
$7.99
Tale of Little Pig Robinson
Book 19
by Beatrix Potter
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Peter Rabbit & Friends (Location: FIC-PETER)
$6.99
Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher
Book 7
by Beatrix Potter
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Peter Rabbit & Friends (Location: FIC-PETER)
$6.99
Tale of Mr. Tod
Book 14
by Beatrix Potter
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Peter Rabbit & Friends (Location: FIC-PETER)
$7.99
Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse
Book 11
by Beatrix Potter
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Peter Rabbit & Friends (Location: FIC-PETER)
$6.99
Tale of Pigling Bland
Book 15
by Beatrix Potter
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Peter Rabbit & Friends (Location: FIC-PETER)
$6.99
Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan
Book 17
by Beatrix Potter
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Peter Rabbit & Friends (Location: FIC-PETER)
$7.99
Tale of Two Bad Mice
Book 5
by Beatrix Potter
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Peter Rabbit & Friends (Location: FIC-PETER)
$6.99
Tales of Mr. Pengachoosa
by Caroline Rush, illustrated by Dominique M. Strandquest
First Edition from Crown Publishers
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Tassel's Mission
Smithsonian Wild Heritage Collection
by Susan Thompson-Hoffman, illustrated by Eileen Major Buzzanco
from Trudy Corporation
for 1st-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig
by Eugene Trivizas
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Three Tales of My Father's Dragon
by Ruth Stiles Gannett
from Random House
Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$18.99
Two Bad Ants
by Chris Van Allsburg
from Houghton Mifflin
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Uncle Wiggily Book
by Howard Garis
from Grosset & Dunlap
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams, illustrated by Michael Green
from Running Press
Personification for 1st-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$10.95
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams, illustrated by Michael Hague
from Henry Holt and Company
Personification for 1st-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams, illustrated by Michael Green
from Running Press
Personification for 1st-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams, illustrated by Allen Atkinson
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Personification for 1st-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams
from Doubleday Book For Young Readers
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Chronicles of Narnia Book 5
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Allegorical Fantasy for 3rd-9th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
by Hugh Lofting
from Dover Publications
for 3rd-7th grade
1923 Newbery Medal winner
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$14.95
When We Were Very Young
by A. A. Milne, illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard
1961 Redesigned from E.P. Dutton & Co.
Poetry for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Who's Zoo
by Conrad Aiken, illustrated by John Vernon Lord
from Jonathan Cape
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Wild About Books
by Judy Sierra, Marc Brown
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Wind in the Willows (adapted)
by Kenneth Grahame
from Dalmatian Press
for 3rd-5th grade
in Adapted or Abridged (Location: SER-ABR)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Word of Mouse
by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein, Illustrated by Joe Sutphin
from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$13.99
World of Christopher Robin
by A. A. Milne
from Dutton Children's Books
Animal Stories: Fantasy for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
World of Peter Rabbit
by Beatrix Potter
Box from Frederick Warne & Company
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Boxed Sets & Literature Packages (Location: FIC-BOX)
$135.00