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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"Stand Back," Said the Elephant, "I'm Going to Sneeze!"
by Patricia Thomas
from HarperCollins
for Nursery-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$16.99
Adventures of Happy Jack
Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail Books #25
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 1st-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$6.00
Adventures of Johnny Chuck
Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail Books #6
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 1st-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$5.00
Adventures of Paddy the Beaver
Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail Books #19
by Thornton W. Burgess
Unabridged from Dover Publications
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$4.00
Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum
Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail Books #8
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 1st-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$5.00
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
Puffin Classics
by Aesop
Reprint from Puffin Books
Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$7.99
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
Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse
by Leo Lionni
Reissue from Dragonfly Books
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
1970 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Among the Farmyard People
by Clara Dillingham Pierson
from Yesterday's Classics
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$10.95
Among the Farmyard People
by Clara Dillingham Pierson
from Living Book Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
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$13.99
Among the Forest People
by Clara Dillingham Pierson
from Yesterday's Classics
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$10.95
Among the Forest People
by Clara Dillingham Pierson
from Living Book Press
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in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$11.99
Among the Meadow People
by Clara Dillingham Pierson
from Living Book Press
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$10.99
Among the Night People
by Clara Dillingham Pierson
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Among the Night People
by Clara Dillingham Pierson
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$11.99
Among the Pond People
by Clara Dillingham Pierson
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$10.95
Among the Pond People
by Clara Dillingham Pierson
from Living Book Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$11.99
Amos and Boris
by William Steig
from Square Fish Publishing
Animal Fantasy for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Another Celebrated Dancing Bear
by Gladys Scheffrin-Falk & Barbara Garrison (illusttrator)
from Purple House Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$19.95
Ant and the Elephant
by Bill Peet
from Sandpiper Books
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes
Book 22
by Beatrix Potter
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Nursery-1st grade
in Peter Rabbit & Friends (Location: FIC-PETER)
$7.99
Arthur's Honey Bear
An I Can Read Book Level 2
by Lillian Hoban
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-3rd grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$4.99
Ask Mr. Bear
by Marjorie Flack
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for Kindergarten-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Babar and Father Christmas
by Jean De Brunhoff
1st edition from Random House Books for Young Readers
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$18.99
Babar and His Children
by Jean De Brunhoff
from Random House Books for Young Readers
for Preschool-2nd grade
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$18.99 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Babar the King
by Jean de Brunhoff
from Random House
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$15.95
Bedtime for Frances
by Russell Hoban
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$16.99
Big Bad Bruce
by Bill Peet
from Sandpiper Books
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Blacky the Crow
Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail Books #30
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 1st-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$5.00
Bowser the Hound
Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail Books #27
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 1st-5th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$6.00
Buford the Little Bighorn
by Bill Peet
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$12.95
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
Color Edition from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$19.99
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$18.99
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$28.99
Burgess Flower Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$19.99
Burgess Flower Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$28.99
Caps for Sale
by Esphyr Slobodkina
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for Nursery-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Catwings Return
A Catwings Tale Book 2
by Ursula K. Le Guin
from Atheneum
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.99
Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes
Book 23
by Beatrix Potter
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Nursery-1st grade
in Peter Rabbit & Friends (Location: FIC-PETER)
$6.99
Chester Cricket's Pigeon Ride
by George Selden
1st edition from Square Fish Publishing
for 1st-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99
Chester the Worldly Pig
by Bill Peet
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Chester's Way
by Kevin Henkes
from Greenwillow Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.99
Chicken Little
by Steven Kellogg
from HarperCollins
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Chrysanthemum
by Kevin Henkes
from William Morrow & Company
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Chrysanthemum
by Kevin Henkes
from William Morrow & Company
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
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
Cowardly Clyde
by Bill Peet
from Sandpiper Books
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Cross-Country Cat
by Mary Calhoun & Erick Ingraham
from Mulberry Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Curious George - Hardcover Boxed Set
by H. A. & Margret Rey
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
in Boxed Sets & Literature Packages (Location: FIC-BOX)
$39.99
Curious George Flies a Kite
by Margret Rey
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Curious George Gets a Medal
by H. A. Rey
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Curious George Goes to the Hospital
by H. A. & Margret Rey
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Curious George Learns the Alphabet
by H. A. Rey
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Curious George Rides a Bike
by H. A. Rey
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Curious George Takes a Job
by H. A. Rey
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent
by Bill Peet
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Dandelion
by Don Freeman
from Puffin Books
Animal Fantasy for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
Days with Frog and Toad
An I Can Read Book Level 2
by Arnold Lobel
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$5.99
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
Doctor De Soto
by William Steig
from Square Fish Publishing
Animal Fantasy for Kindergarten-3rd grade
1983 Newbery Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Doctor De Soto Goes to Africa
by William Steig
Reprint from HarperCollins
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.99 $4.89 (1 in stock)
Dooryard Stories
by Clara Dillingham Pierson
from Living Book Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$8.99
Dragons of Blueland
My Father's Dragon Trilogy #3
by Ruth Stiles Gannett
from Random House
Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$7.99
Eli
by Bill Peet
from Sandpiper Books
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Ella
by Bill Peet
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Elmer and the Dragon
My Father's Dragon Trilogy #2
by Ruth Stiles Gannett
from Random House
Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$7.99
Eugenia Lincoln and the Unexpected Package
Tales from Deckawoo Drive Book 4
by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen
from Candlewick Press
for 1st-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.99
Fables
by Arnold Lobel
from HarperCollins
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for Preschool-3rd grade
1981 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Farewell to Shady Glade
by Bill Peet
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Father Bear Comes Home
An I Can Read Book Level 1
by Else Minarik & Maurice Sendak
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-1st grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$5.99 $2.50 (1 in stock)
Fire Cat
An I Can Read Book Level 1
by Esther Averill
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-1st grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$4.99
Fish Out of Water
by Helen Palmer
from Random House
Animal Fantasy/Rhyming Stories for Nursery-1st grade
in Beginner Books (Location: EAR-BB)
$9.99
Flotsam
by David Wiesner
from Clarion Books
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
2007 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
Francine Poulet Meets the Ghost Raccoon
Tales from Deckawoo Drive Book 2
by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen
from Candlewick Press
for 1st-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.99
Frederick
by Leo Lionni
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
1968 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Frederick
by Leo Lionni
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
1968 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Frog and Toad All Year
An I Can Read Book Level 2
by Arnold Lobel
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$5.99
Frog and Toad Are Friends
An I Can Read Book Level 2 (Reading with Help)
by Arnold Lobel
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
1971 Caldecott Honor Book
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$4.99 $3.00 (3 in stock)
Frog and Toad Collection
by Arnold Lobel
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$17.97
Frog and Toad Together
An I Can Read Book Level 2
by Arnold Lobel
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
1973 Newbery Honor Book
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$4.99
Gnats of Knotty Pine
by Bill Peet
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Goodnight Moon
by Margaret Wise Brown
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99 $4.50 (3 in stock)
Grasshopper on the Road
An I Can Read Book Level 2
by Arnold Lobel
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-3rd grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$5.99
Gregory's Shadow
by Don Freeman
from Puffin Books
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
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
Guess How Much I Love You
by Sam McBratney, illustrations by Anita Jeram
from Candlewick Press
for Preschool-1st grade
in Board Books (Location: PIC-BOARD)
$8.99
Happy Birthday, Moon
by Frank Asch
Revised from Aladdin Paperbacks
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Happy Day
by Ruth Krauss
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-1st grade
1950 Caldecott Honor Book
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$7.99
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 Puffin Books
Animal Fantasy for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$7.99
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
House on East 88th Street
by Bernard Waber
from Houghton Mifflin
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
How Droofus the Dragon Lost His Head
by Bill Peet
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure
by Bill Peet
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
Huge Harold
by Bill Peet
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.99
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
by Laura Numeroff
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
If You Plant a Seed
by Kadir Nelson
from Balzer & Bray
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$18.99
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