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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Adventures of Jimmy Skunk
by Thornton W. Burgess, illustrated by Harrison Cady
1920 Printing from Little, Brown & Company
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Animal Orchestra
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Bellmaker
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Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
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by George Selden, illustrated by Garth Williams
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Animal Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade
1961 Newbery Honor Book
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Cunning Little Vixen
by Rudolf Tesnohlidek
First Edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Curious George Flies a Kite
by Margret Rey
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Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
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by Cynthia Jameson, illustrated by James Marshall
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Dear Friends
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Dear Peter Rabbit
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Elephant's Child
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Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
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Horton Hears a Who!
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I'm Not Moving, Mama!
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If You Give a Moose a Muffin
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Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
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Infamous Ratsos: Project Fluffy
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Invisible Moose
by Dennis Haseley, illustrated by Steven Kellogg
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Jungle Book
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Kurt Wiese
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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
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Legend of Luke
Redwall #12
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Letters to Children
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Little Whistle
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Little Whistle's Dinner Party
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Long Patrol
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Lovable Lyle
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Marzipan Pig
by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Quentin Blake
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Mercy Watson Fights Crime
by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen
Library Binding from Candlewick Press
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Mercy Watson to the Rescue
by Kate DiCamillo
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Misoso
by Verna Aardema
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by T. H. White
from New York Review of Books
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More About Paddington
by Michael Bond
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Mr. and Mrs. Bunny - Detectives Extraordinaire!
by Mrs. Bunny, translated from the Rabbit by Polly Horvath, illustrated by Sophie Blackall
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New Illustrated Just So Stories
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Nicolas Mordvinoff
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
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New Shoes
from First Second
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Olivia
by Ian Falconer
from Atheneum
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-1st grade
2001 Caldecott Honor Book
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Olivia Forms a Band
by Ian Falconer
from Atheneum
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Paddington Abroad
by Michael Bond, illustrated by Peggy Fortnum
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Paddington Marches On
by Michael Bond
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Perfect Present
by Michael Hague
1st edition from Morrow Junior Books
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Prince Caspian
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Puppy Who Wanted a Boy
by Jane Thayer, Illustrated by Lisa McCue
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
Rainbow Fish
by Marcus Pfister
from North-South Books
Animal Fantasy for Kindergarten-2nd grade
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$18.95 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Runaway Chick
by Erica Briers, illustrated by Stephanie Boey
from The Templar Co.
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit
Book 20
by Beatrix Potter
from Frederick Warne & Company
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Story of Babar the Little Elephant
by Jean De Brunhoff
from Random House Books for Young Readers
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Story of Doctor Dolittle
by Hugh Lofting
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Miss Moppet
Book 21
by Beatrix Potter
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$7.99 $3.50 (1 in stock)
Stuart Little
by E.B. White
from Harper & Row
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)
Tailor of Gloucester
by Beatrix Potter
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Tale of Benjamin Bunny (abridged) - Pop-up Book
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
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by Beatrix Potter (based on the story and art of)
from Paradise Press
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Tale of Mr. Tod
Book 14
by Beatrix Potter
from Frederick Warne & Company
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
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by Beatrix Potter (based on the story and art of)
from Paradise Press
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Tales of Mr. Pengachoosa
by Caroline Rush, illustrated by Dominique M. Strandquest
First Edition from Crown Publishers
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Tassel's Mission
Smithsonian Wild Heritage Collection
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Timothy Goes to School
by Rosemary Wells
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Two Bad Ants
by Chris Van Allsburg
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Uncle Wiggily Book
by Howard Garis
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$8.00 (2 in stock)
Uncle Wiggily's Story Book
by Howard Garis
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$10.00 (3 in stock)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams, illustrated by Michael Hague
from Henry Holt and Company
Personification for 1st-4th grade
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams, illustrated by Michael Green
from Running Press
Personification for 1st-4th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Velveteen Rabbit
by Margery Williams, illustrated by Allen Atkinson
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Personification for 1st-4th grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
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