Clothed animals from favorite children's books illustrate words from ape to zebra.
Words for Adults:
Someday, when I am old and have nothing to do but read and look at pictures, I will finish my magnum opus, on which I have been at work for 20 years, The Encyclopedia of Dressed Animals. There I will present all the species in their sartorial splendor. In the meantime I here show a few of my favorites, and raise some of the issues which The Encyclopedia will explore.
Why do animals delight us so much? Why are children so drawn to them? Is it, in part, because children need someone to pity, somewhere to lavish their parental impulses? Why do children's books so often put human clothes on the animals, and make them do human tasks in human environments? Perhaps it is really boys and girls, men and women, that the stories concern, and that we find the lessons more palatable when the characters are disguised as animals.
Whatever the answers to these questions, it is apparent that clothed animals often bring the best out of book illustrators, and for the readers are a boundless source of delight.
—Welleran Poltarnees
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