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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34 Items found Print
Active Filters: 3rd grade (Ages 8-9), Trade Paperback, Used Books & Materials
Adventures of Prickly Porky
Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail Books #17
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$5.00 $2.50 (1 in stock)
Berlioz the Bear
by Jan Brett
1st THUS from Scholastic Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Birthday for Frances
by Russell & Lillian Hoban
from Scholastic Inc.
Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Bread and Jam for Frances
I Can Read! Level 2
by Russell & Lillian Hoban
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$5.99 $3.00 (1 in stock)
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$12.95 $6.50 (1 in stock)
Charlotte's Web - Full Color Edition
by E. B. White
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Dragons of Blueland
My Father's Dragon Trilogy #3
by Ruth Stiles Gannett, illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett
from Random House
Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$7.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Elmer and the Dragon
My Father's Dragon Trilogy #2
by Ruth Stiles Gannett
from Yearling
Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Flora & Ulysses
by Kate DiCamillo
Reprint from Scholastic Book Services
for 3rd-6th grade
2014 Newbery Medal winner
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
by Roald Dahl
from Puffin Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
by Roald Dahl
from Puffin Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Golden Goose
by Dick King-Smith
from Yearling
for 2nd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$5.99 $3.50 (1 in stock)
House on East 88th Street
by Bernard Waber
from Trumpet Club
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$1.50 (1 in stock)
Library Lion
by Michelle Knudsen
1 Reprint from Candlewick Press
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Mercy Watson Fights Crime
Mercy Watson #3
by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen
from Candlewick Press
for 1st-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride
Mercy Watson #2
by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen
from Candlewick Press
for 1st-4th grade
2007 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Mercy Watson to the Rescue
Mercy Watson #1
by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen
1 Reprint from Candlewick Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Mercy Watson: Princess in Disguise
Mercy Watson #4
by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen
from Candlewick Press
for 1st-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Miss Bianca
by Margery Sharp
from Yearling
for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$1.50 (4 in stock)
Miss Bianca in the Orient
by Margery Sharp
from Yearling
for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines
by Margery Sharp
from Yearling
for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Mother West Wind's Children
by Thornton Burgess
from Little, Brown & Company
Animal Fantasy for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mouse and the Motorcycle
by Beverly Cleary
from Scholastic Inc.
for 2nd-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Mouse of Amherst
by Elizabeth Spires, Illustrated by Claire A. Nivola
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$3.00 (2 in stock)
Mr. Revere and I
by Robert Lawson
from Little, Brown & Company
Humor/historical fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Once a Mouse
by Marcia Brown
2nd edition from Aladdin Paperbacks
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for Kindergarten-3rd grade
1962 Caldecott Medal Winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
One and Only Ivan
by Katherine Applegate
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-7th grade
2013 Newbery Award Winner
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Poppleton and Friends
by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Mark Teague
from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool-3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Real Thief
by William Steig
from Houghton Mifflin
for 3rd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Stories Julian Tells
by Ann Cameron
Reprint from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Tale of Despereaux
by Kate DiCamillo
from Candlewick Press
for 3rd-6th grade
2004 Newbery Medal winner
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99 $5.50 (2 in stock)
Thornton Burgess Smiling Pool Stories
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 1st-5th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$14.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Tucker's Countryside
by George Selden; illustrated by Garth Williams
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
World According to Humphrey
by Betty G. Birney
from Puffin Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$5.00 (1 in stock)