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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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
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Bellmaker
by Brian Jacques
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for 3rd-7th grade
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$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
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Charlotte's Web
by E. B. White
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Charlotte's Web
by E. B. White
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Charlotte's Web
by E. B. White
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1953 Newbery Honor Book
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Into the Jungle
by Katherine Rundell, Illustrated by Kristjana S. Williams
from Walker Books
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Jungle Book
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Kurt Wiese
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
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Just So Stories
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Safaya Salter
from Henry Holt and Company
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-6th grade
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$9.00 (2 in stock)
Legend of Luke
Redwall #12
by Brian Jacques
1st Us Edition from Philomel Books
Fantasy for 4th-9th grade
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Chronicles of Narnia Book 1
by C. S. Lewis
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Marzipan Pig
by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Quentin Blake
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
More About Paddington
by Michael Bond
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mouse and His Child
by Russell Hoban, illustrated by David Small
from Arthur A. Levine Books
for 4th-10th grade
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$19.99
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 Illustrated Just So Stories
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Nicolas Mordvinoff
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
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Paddington At Large RUC
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Paddington Helps Out
by Michael Bond
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Paddington Here and Now
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by Michael Bond
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Paddington Races Ahead
by Michael Bond
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Paddington Takes the Test
by Michael Bond
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$9.99
Paddington Treasury
by Michael Bond, illustrated by R. W. Alley
1st edition from HarperCollins
for 2nd-6th grade
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$27.99
Poppy and Rye
Poppy Stories #3
by Avi
1st edition from HarperCollins
Animal Stories: Fantasy for 3rd-5th grade
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Prince Caspian
by C. S. Lewis
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Stuart Little
by E.B. White
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Animal Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade
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$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
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig
by Eugene Trivizas
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for 1st-5th grade
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$7.00 (1 in stock)
Trumpet of the Swan
by E. B. White
from HarperCollins
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$16.99
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Chronicles of Narnia Book 5
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Allegorical Fantasy for 3rd-9th grade
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$10.00 (2 in stock)
Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
by Hugh Lofting
from Dover Publications
for 3rd-7th grade
1923 Newbery Medal winner
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$14.95
Who's Zoo
by Conrad Aiken, illustrated by John Vernon Lord
from Jonathan Cape
for 2nd-5th grade
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Wind in the Willows
Heritage Illustrated Library
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Heritage Press
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$18.00 (1 in stock)
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Robert Ingpen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
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$24.95
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Anna Leplar
from Parragon Publishing
Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by John Burningham
from Viking Kestrel Books
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
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Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by James Lynch
from The Folio Society
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
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Wind in the Willows (adapted)
by Kenneth Grahame
from Dalmatian Press
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Winged Colt of Casa Mia
by Betsy Byars, illustrated by Richard Cuffari
1st edition from Viking Press
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Winnie-the-Pooh
by A. A. Milne. illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard
from Dutton Children's Books
for 4th-6th grade
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$19.99
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