Jump to content

Menu

Chapter books about/with animal characters


Recommended Posts

Thornton Burgess Books (The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse etc) is what comes to mind right now.

 

Oh and Beverly Cleary's (may not be considered classical) Ralph books (The Mouse & the Motorcycle, Ralph S. Mouse, Runaway Ralph).

 

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We just read a great book called The Wonderful Farm by Marcel Ayme (French author) illustrated by Maurice Sendak. We loved it. It's about these two little French girls living on a farm where all the animals can talk. I highly recommend it! Very clever! (Warning: the last chapter is sad and caused my 7 yo to burst into tears, but even so we really, really enjoyed it!).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Or is it Doolittle? I can never remember.

Great fun. The older editions have some racially insensitive elements, but the most recent version has an excellent introduction from, I think, the author's nephew, about the context and how the current text was edited to be more acceptable.

 

Terri

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Socks by Beverly Cleary

 

Abel's Island by William Steig

 

Kenny and the Dragon by Tony DiTerlizzi

 

Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry

 

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O'Brien

 

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

 

The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden (and sequels)

 

Among the Forest/Night/Meadow/Pond People by Clara Dillingham Pierson (similar to Thornton Burgess)

 

Christopher Mouse, the Tale of a Small Traveler by William Wise

 

My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett

 

Bunnicula by Deborah Howe

 

The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong

 

Ginger Pye/Pinky Pye by Eleanor Estes

 

Rabbit Hill/The Tough Winter/Edward, Hoppy, and Joe by Robert Lawson

 

Skylar by Mary Cuffe-Perez

 

Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat

 

HTH!

 

Tara

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure what you mean by "classical" but some animal books DS still loves are:

 

Black Beauty

Rascal

Beautiful Joe (though he says it was sad)

King of the Wind

Misty of Chincoteague

 

...and Hank the Cowdog. :) They are really funny dogs-eye-view of life on a cattle ranch. The malappropisms make them a difficult read for younger kiddos, but all ages will enjoy them in audio format. Probably not "classical" but well worth your time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tons of good suggestions here... a couple I don't think I've seen already mentioned:

 

Babe the Gallant Pig and many others by Dick King-Smith

Jenny books (Jenny and the Cat Club, Jenny goes to Sea, etc.) by Esther Averill

Carbonel King of Cats by Barbara Sleigh

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Little Bo

Little Bo in France

both by Julie Andrews Edwards

(about a sweet little cat)

 

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles

also by Julie Andrews Edwards

(make believe animals/creatures)

 

The Mice of the Herring Bone series by Tim Davis

(probably not what you are looking for but our eldest *loves* this series of good mice fighting bad dog pirates alongside the Queen's navy who are all cats)

 

The Cricket in Times Squares series

(we especially liked the second one, Tucker's Countryside)

 

The Lighthouse Family series by Cynthia Rylant

(early chapter books but we did them as read alouds for the 4 year old)

 

Freddy the Pig series

(the first one had us laughing and laughing; we've listened to a number on CD-book)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:thumbup: Freddy the Pig Goes to Florida

 

I haven't read but my son really enjoyed reading the Guardians of Ga'Hoole by Lasky. It's about an owl kingdom.

 

Another book on our shelf which a friend highly recommended is Darwing - a book with bats as the characters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure if these have been mentioned. My coffee is not ready yet...

 

Dick King-Smith books

Janette Oke's Animal Friends (my niece loved these)

Rascal

Ribsy (Henry Huggin's series)

Brighty of the Grand Canyon (all Marguerite Henry's books)

Benjamin West and Cat Gramilkin

Gentle Ben (Walt Morey books)

Jim Kjelgaard books

Shiloh

Sounder

Old Yeller

Dog Named Kitty (Bill Wallace books)

Dog Who Wouldn't Be (Farley Mowat books)

 

I also have to plug Owls in the Family. It was a laugh out loud story. Great family read-aloud!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...