Animal Stories: Realistic

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Realistic animal stories are usually more about the humans involved than about the animals. This isn't always true (London's Call of the Wild is a notable exception), but anyone who's read The Yearling, James Herriot's 5-volume memoir, or most of Marguerite Henry's books knows that the main characters are people, and the animals are the primary concern of those characters.

That's not to suggest that the animals are incidental, just that what readers are supposed to take away aren't simply facts about horses or dogs, but what all good literature offers, insight and commentary on the human condition. The reason we like stories involving animals so much is that humans and their furry companions are able to forge unique bonds predicated on innocence and loyalty that rarely exist in strictly human relationships.

What sets realistic animal stories apart from fantasy animal stories is that the animals in them are real animals, not talking, clothes-wearing, pipe-smoking people in animal costumes. Dogs bark, horses gallop, cows give birth to calves (it happens a lot in Yorkshire, apparently), and the world is very much as we experience and know it to be.

Children are particularly drawn to these stories, not because they like animals more than adults do, but because their imaginations still recognize everything as fair game. Animal tales show the world from an often unfamiliar perspective, and the appeal is especially great for those whose own perspective is still largely unformed.

A lot of these make great read-alouds for really young kids, or good books for budding readers to practiceon their own. Just because they're in the kids' fiction section doesn't mean they're only intended for children, either, and plenty of adults are still as much into animal novels as they were thirty years ago. Our selection is intentionally broad, and steadily growing—we may or may not be included in that last group.

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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	Beautiful Joe A Dog's Own Story G&D Famous Dog Stories by Marshall Saunders from Grosset & Dunlap for 4th-8th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $10.00 (1 in stock)
	Beautiful Joe A Dog's Own Story G&D Famous Dog Stories by Marshall Saunders from Grosset & Dunlap for 4th-8th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $4.00 (1 in stock)
	Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard from Holiday House Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI) $17.99
	Black Beauty Illustrated Junior Library Series 4 by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg from Grosset & Dunlap Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI) $12.00 (1 in stock)
	Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, Illustrated by Lucy Kemp-Welch from Dilithium Press, Ltd. for 4th-8th grade in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI) $12.00 (1 in stock)
	Black Beauty Junior Deluxe Editions by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Walter Seaton from Nelson Doubleday, Inc. for 4th-8th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $12.00 (1 in stock)
	Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, illustrated by John Beer from Barnes & Noble for 3rd-8th grade in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Black Beauty Everyman Children's Classics by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Lucy Kemp-Welch from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade in Everyman's Library Children's Classics (Location: FIC-ELC) $10.00 (1 in stock)
	Black Beauty Macmillan Classics by Anna Sewell, illustrated by John Groth from Macmillan for 4th-8th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $12.00 (1 in stock)
	Black Beauty (abridged) by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Chiara Fedele from Miles Kelly Publishing Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI) $9.00 (1 in stock)
	Black Beauty / Call of the Wild by Anna Sewell, Jack London, illustrated by E. Raymond Kintsler & Lee Gregori from Grosset & Dunlap for 4th-8th grade in Companion Library (Location: VIN-FIC) $4.00 (1 in stock)
	Black Stallion's Filly Black Stallion #8 by Walter Farley from Random House Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $6.00 (1 in stock)
	Boy and His Bear by Harriet Graham from Margaret K. McElderry Books for 4th-8th grade in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI) $4.00 (1 in stock)
	ECL: Call of the Wild Educator Classic Library #11 by Jack London, illustrated by Ron King Complete and Unabridged Edition from Classic Press Action/Adventure for 7th-10th grade in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL) $6.00 (1 in stock)
	Every Living Thing by James Herriot 1^st edition from St. Martin's Press for 8th-Adult in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI) $7.00 (1 in stock)
	Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji from Dutton Juvenile for 4th-9th grade 1928 Newbery Medal winner in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI) $14.00 (2 in stock)
	Good Comrades by Felix Salten from Grosset & Dunlap for 4th-8th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $10.00 (1 in stock)
	Green Grass of Wyoming Flicka #3 by Mary O'Hara from J.B. Lippincott Co. for 4th-8th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $12.00 (1 in stock)
	Hound-dog Man by Fred Gipson First Edition L-X from Harper & Brothers for 6th-9th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $6.00 (1 in stock)
	James Herriot's Dog Stories by James Herriot 1^st edition from St. Martin's Press for 7th-Adult in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI) $12.00 (1 in stock)
	Julie of the Wolves "Julie" Trilogy Book 1 by Jean Craighead George from HarperCollins Adventure for 4th-8th grade 1973 Newbery Medal winner in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $9.00 (2 in stock)
	Julie of the Wolves "Julie" Trilogy Book 1 by Jean Craighead George, illustrated by John Schoenherr from HarperCollins Adventure for 4th-8th grade 1973 Newbery Medal winner in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $9.00 (1 in stock)
	Julie's Wolf Pack by Jean Craighead George 1^st edition from HarperCollins for 4th-8th grade in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $7.50 (2 in stock)
	Jungle Books Macmillan Classics by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Robert Shore from Macmillan Animal Stories for 7th-Adult in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $15.00 (1 in stock)
	Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry; illustrated by Wesley Dennis from Rand McNally for 3rd-8th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $12.00 (1 in stock)
	Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry Book Club Edition from Rand McNally for 4th-8th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $6.00 (1 in stock)
	On the Far Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George from Dutton Children's Books Adventure for 4th-8th grade in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $8.00 (2 in stock)
	Return of the Wolf by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, illustrated by Jared Taylor Williams from Clarion Books for 3rd-8th grade in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI) $6.00 (1 in stock)
	Sea Star, Orphan of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry; illustrated by Wesley Dennis from Rand McNally for 4th-8th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $9.00 (1 in stock)
	Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor from Atheneum for 5th-8th grade in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI) $5.00 (1 in stock)
	Snow Goose by Paul Gallico from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. for 7th-12th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $19.95 $14.00 (2 in stock)
	Stormy, Misty's Foal by Marguerite Henry from Rand McNally for 4th-8th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $12.00 (1 in stock)
	Stormy, Misty's Foal (pictorial hardcover) by Marguerite Henry from Rand McNally for 4th-8th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $12.00 (2 in stock)
	White Fang Scribner Illustrated Classics by Jack London, illustrated by Ed Young Unabridged from Atheneum Action/Adventure for 7th-10th grade in Scribner Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SCRIB) $29.99
	Wolfling A Documentary Novel of the Eighteen-Seventies by Sterling North from Sterling Publishing Co. for 5th-9th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $8.00 (1 in stock)

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