Favorite Animals

It would be easy to make a catalog of all the pets we've had over the years, but that's not the kind of "favorite animals" we're talking about. Favorite animals are those animals that have most thoroughly captured the imagination and love of humans. Okay, so maybe love is the wrong word to describe the dragon-craze or our enduring fascination with dinosaurs, but it surely applies to horses, dogs and cats.

The philosopher Plato had an idea that subsequent thinkers called "idealism." They didn't mean that Mr. Plato was an idealist in the way we'd call Rosa Parks or Gandhi idealists: the term idealism referred to the concept that for everything in the world (trees, chairs, noses), there was an ideal form or version of that thing in the spiritual realm.

According to Plato's theory, the azalea bush in your front yard is simply a physical representation of the perfect Azalea Bush floating who-knows-where in the infinite void. While we don't want to start any kind of philosophical war here, that's kind of the idea we're going for in this category. The animals you'll encounter in these stories, coloring books, and reference volumes embody "horseness," "catness," and "dragon-ness."

After all, the image Fred Gipson paints of Old Yeller is just a bit too good to be true. Sure, many of us have had a favorite dog who could do no wrong in our forgiving eyes, but Old Yeller is like every awesome dog who ever lived rolled into one mangy mutt. Which is the whole point—by creating a slightly unrealistic portrait of an old doggy, Gipson is able to celebrate doghood itself.

In a culture that generally looks only at the way things sometimes appear to be, however, it's easy to value animals too highly. Sure, they deserve our attention and care as representatives of creation, but no more. The Creator who made them is the only One deserving all our praise, glory and love; the animals He's made are simply avenues through which to show our worship and gratitude.

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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237 Items found Print
Active Filters: 5th grade (Ages 10-11), Hardcover
Album of Cats
by Gladys Baker Bond, illustrated by Marge Opitz Burridge
from Rand McNally
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Album of Dinosaurs
by Tom McGowen, illustrated by Rod Ruth
from Rand McNally
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Album of Dogs
by Marguerite Henry, illustrated by Wesley Dennis
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Album of Horses
by Marguerite Henry, illustrated by Wesley Dennis
from Rand McNally
Realistic Animal Stories for 3rd-7th grade
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
Album of Horses
by Marguerite Henry
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Album of Horses
by Marguerite Henry
from Aladdin Books
Realistic Animal Stories for 3rd-7th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$19.99
All About Cats
All About Books #58
by Carl Burger
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About Dinosaurs
All About Books #1
by Roy Chapman Andrews
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About Elephants
All About Books #56
by Carl Burger
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About Horses
All About Books #43
by Marguerite Henry
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
Armstrong
by Torben Kuhlmann, Translated by David Henry Wilson
from NorthSouth
for 2nd-6th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Baree, Son of Kazan
G&D Famous Dog Stories
by James Oliver Curwood
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Beautiful Joe
by Marshall Saunders
1965 Edition from Harper & Brothers
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Beautiful Joe
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
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)
Bhimsa, the Dancing Bear
by Christine Weston, illustrated by Roger Duvoisin
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 3rd-6th grade
1946 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Big Red
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Jim Kjelgaard, illustrated by Shannon Stirnweis
from Junior Deluxe Editions
for 4th-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Big Red
by Jim Kjelgaard
from Holiday House
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$17.99
Big Red
by Jim Kjelgaard
from Holiday House
for 4th-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Big Red
G&D Famous Dog Stories
by Jim Kjelgaard, illustrated by Shannon Stirnweis
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
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
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Black Beauty
Sterling Classics
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Wesley Dennis
from Garden City Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell
from Parragon Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Charles Keeping
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
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
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Black Beauty
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg
from Grosset & Dunlap
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Black Beauty
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Dinah Dryhurst
from Breslich & Foss
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Black Beauty
Books of Wonder
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Lucy Kemp-Welch
from William Morrow & Company
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
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
Rainbow Classics
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Wesley Dennis
from World Publishing Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Black Beauty
Children's Classics
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Edwin John Prittie
from John C. Winston
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
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
$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
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by E. Raymond Kinstler
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Companion Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
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 Gold
by Marguerite Henry
from Rand McNally
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Black Gold (pictorial cover)
by Marguerite Henry
from Rand McNally
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Black Stallion
by Walter Farley
from Random House
for 4th-7th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Black Stallion
by Walter Farley, illustrated by Domenick D'Andrea
Golden Anniversary Edition from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Black Stallion
by Walter Farley
from Junior Deluxe Editions
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
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)
Blind Colt
Weekly Reader
by Glen Rounds
from Weekly Reader
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Blind Colt
by Glen Rounds
from Holiday House
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Blind Colt
A World Famous Horse Story Library selection
by Glen Rounds
from Holiday House
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Bob, Son of Battle
G&D Famous Dog Stories
by Alfred Ollivant
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 5th-9th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Book of Dragons
by Ruth Manning-Sanders, illustrated by Robin Jacques
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Born to Trot
by Marguerite Henry
First Edition from Rand McNally
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Born to Trot
by Marguerite Henry; illustrated by Wesley Dennis
Reprint from Simon and Schuster
for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
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)
Brighty of the Grand Canyon
by Marguerite Henry; illustrated by Wesley Dennis
from Rand McNally
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Brighty of the Grand Canyon (pictorial hardcover)
by Marguerite Henry; illustrated by Wesley Dennis
from Rand McNally
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bringing Back the Wolves
by Jude Isabella; illustrated by Kim Smith
from Kids Can Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Ecology (Location: SCI-ECO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Bruce
by Albert Payson Terhune
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Buff: A Collie
by Albert Payson Terhune
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Buff: A Collie
by Albert Payson Terhune
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bunch Quitter
by Don Patton, illustrated by Paul Clowes
from Caxton Printers, Ltd
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Call of the Wild
by Jack London, illustrated by Lee Gregori
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Companion Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Cat Book
by Marianne Besser, illustrated by Shannon Stirnweis
from Holiday House
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
Cat Who Went to Heaven
by Elizabeth Coatsworth, illustrated by Lynd Ward
First Edition from Simon and Schuster
Eastern Fairy Tale for 3rd-6th grade
1931 Newbery Medal winner
Champion Dog Prince Tom
Weekly Reader Children's Book Club
by Jean Fritz and Tom Clute, Illustrated by Ernest Hart
from Coward McCann
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
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 HarperCollins
for 2nd-6th grade
1953 Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Cheshire Cheese Cat
by Carmen Agra Deedy, Randall Wright
1st edition from Peachtree Publishers, Ltd.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Chief Takes Over
by Helen Rushmore, Illustrated by Charles Geer
from Weekly Reader
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$4.00 (3 in stock)
Children of Odin
by Padraic Colum, illustrated by Willy Pogany
from Macmillan
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$40.00 (1 in stock)
Chipmunk Terrace
by John Oldrin, illustrated by Kurt Wiese
from Viking Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Cinchfoot
by Thomas C. Hinkle
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Collected Poems of Freddy the Pig
by Walter R. Brooks
from Overlook Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Come on Seabiscuit
by Ralph Moody
from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Complete Horse Care Manual
from DK Publishing
for 5th-10th grade
in Raising Livestock & Animal Husbandry (Location: SS-FARM)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Cricket in Times Square
by George Selden, illustrated by Garth Williams
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Animal Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade
1961 Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Critter and Other Dogs
by Albert Payson Terhune
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
D'Aulaires' Book of Trolls
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from New York Review of Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$22.95
December Dog
by Jan M. Robinson; illustrated by Joan Sandin
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Derry's Partner
G&D Famous Dog Stories
by Hubert Evans
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Dinosaurs by Design
by Duane Gish
from Master Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$14.39
Dinosaurs for Kids
by Ken Ham
from Master Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$13.59
Dinosaurs of Eden
by Ken Ham
2nd edition from Master Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$13.59
Dinosaurs Unleashed
by Eric Lyons, Kyle Butt
2nd edition from Apologetics Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
Dinotopia
by James Gurney
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Dinotopia: The World Beneath
by James Gurney
2012nd edition from Calla Editions
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Horse
by Julie Clutton-Brock
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Horses & Ponies (Location: SCI-MAMHOR)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Horse
DK Eyewitness Series
by Juliet Clutton-Brock
from DK Publishing
Science Reference for 4th-8th grade
in Horses & Ponies (Location: SCI-MAMHOR)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Viking
DK Eyewitness Series
by Susan M. Margeson
from DK Publishing
History Reference for 4th-8th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$16.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
DK Ultimate Horse
by Elwyn Hartley Edwards
from DK Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Horses & Ponies (Location: SCI-MAMHOR)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Dog for Davie's Hill
by Clare Bice
from Macmillan
for 3rd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Dog Named Chips
by Albert Payson Terhune
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Dog Named Chips
by Albert Payson Terhune
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Dog of Flanders and Other Stories
by Louise De La Ramee
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Dragon Used to Live Here
by Annette LeBlanc Cate
from Candlewick Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$17.99
Dragon, Hound of Honor
by Julie Andrews Edwards and Emma Walton Hamilton
1st edition from HarperCollins
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Dragons
by Bill Looney
from Master Books
for 4th-6th grades
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$15.99
Dragons of the Deep
by Carl Wieland
from Master Books
for 5th-8th grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$13.59
Dry Bones and Other Fossils
by Gary & Mary Parker
2nd edition from Master Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Dinosaurs & Fossils (Location: SCI-DINO)
$11.19 $6.50 (3 in stock)
Duff: The Story of a Bear
by William Marshall Rush, illustrated by Gardell Dano Christensen
from David McKay Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
ECL: Black Beauty
Educator's Classic Library
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Michael Rios
from Classic Press
for 3rd-7th grade
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
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