Since I was ten or so, I've been drawn to stories that feature animal characters. I think that animals, like humans, are much more complex than we sometimes realize. When we learn about them and the natural world, we often learn about ourselves too.
1. Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies. This is the 'Watership Down' of deer. Incredible descriptions of nature and a strong prophecy-based narrative. I loved the late-Roman Scotland setting as some humans do appear in the story. But the epic yarn of young Rannoch to save his herd is wonderful. Clement-Davies also wrote a wolf-fiction series (The Sight and Fell). I personally enjoyed them less. I wrote a brief recommendation for Fire Bringer in 2015.
2. Watership Down by Richard Adams. I can't recall if you said you had read this one. But it's just so epic and well-crafted. In particular, I loved the mythology of the rabbits, whose trickster god is constantly out-witting his perennially hungry enemies — and giving inspiration to Hazel, Bigwig, and Dandelion. Adams originally told the story to his daughters in a long ride through the English countryside, and decided to write it down. You can read my full recommendation for it here.
3. Chantecler by Edmond Rostand. A play written by perhaps Victor Hugo's greatest admirer, which centers around an idealistic rooster who believes that his morning song causes the sun to rise. As he lords over the farm, jealous animals begin to plot his undoing. Told in four acts (night and morning; and again the next night and morning), I found the themes of idealism, pride, purpose, love, and envy powerful and oh so human. Try to get Kay Nolte-Smith's translation, who, interestingly, was a long-time friend of Ayn Rand. You can read my full recommendation for Chantecler here.
4. The Redwall Series by Brian Jacques. A childhood favorite series, whose paperbacks I still have. There are over twenty (I think) novels, but Redwall was the first. Its namesake is a big, homely, castle with some secrets being defended by mice, shrews, and squirrels against Cluny, a vengeful rat and his posse of foxes, stoats, and rats. Lots of fun songs, accents, and animal cultures developed. Jacques himself was a character — he spent a lifetime as a longshoreman, truck driver, police officer, and handyman, before crushing the children's literature scene.
5. The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. It's been sixteen years since discovering the novel Eragon. Back in August 2002, I road-tripped with my best friend dan and his family from Philadelphia to a small town in Montana called Paradise Valley near Yellowstone National Park. Somewhere during the bison-induced traffic jams, altitude sickness, and late-night card games, I managed to drag Dan downtown and into a dusty bookstore. There, to our amazement, we learned that a local boy named Christopher Paolini, who was not much older than us, had self-published a novel about a sapphire blue dragon. I'm adding this to the list because the dragon's thoughts are heard and felt by the boy, making them a powerful duo in a magically complex world. I still appreciate Saphira's wisdom and perspective.
6. Animal Farm by George Orwell. I love dystopias and this one shows brilliantly the dangers of political power and how idealistic causes are often corrupted by their own idealists. Also, I always felt so bad for the glue-factor-bound horse.
7. Stuart Little by E.B. White. This is a sneaky-good philosophical book. I remember sympathizing a lot with Stuart, who wanted a bigger life — to rise above his stature — to see the big world — and was confident that his dreams were worthy of being realized.
8. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. The only spider I ever loved.
9. Aesop's Fables by Aesop. Perhaps the world's first attempt at anthropomorphizing. I love the lessons gleaned from recurring animal characters in Aesop's fables. One of my favorites (a non-animal fable: "An Astronomer used to go out at night to observe the stars. One evening, as he wandered through the suburbs with his whole attention fixed on the sky, he fell accidentally into a deep well. While he lamented and bewailed his sores and bruises, and cried loudly for help, a neighbor ran to the well, and learning what had happened said: “Hark ye, old fellow, why, in striving to pry into what is in heaven, do you not manage to see what is on earth?”
10. Bambi by Felix Salten. I think powerlessness is something that many if not most children feel often. It's part of the reason why I think Darth Vader and other villains often fascinate young ones. Bambi's story (quite different than Disney) depicts a dangerous and unknown forest in which he and other deer must fight and flee to survive.
1. Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies. This is the 'Watership Down' of deer. Incredible descriptions of nature and a strong prophecy-based narrative. I loved the late-Roman Scotland setting as some humans do appear in the story. But the epic yarn of young Rannoch to save his herd is wonderful. Clement-Davies also wrote a wolf-fiction series (The Sight and Fell). I personally enjoyed them less. I wrote a brief recommendation for Fire Bringer in 2015.
2. Watership Down by Richard Adams. I can't recall if you said you had read this one. But it's just so epic and well-crafted. In particular, I loved the mythology of the rabbits, whose trickster god is constantly out-witting his perennially hungry enemies — and giving inspiration to Hazel, Bigwig, and Dandelion. Adams originally told the story to his daughters in a long ride through the English countryside, and decided to write it down. You can read my full recommendation for it here.
3. Chantecler by Edmond Rostand. A play written by perhaps Victor Hugo's greatest admirer, which centers around an idealistic rooster who believes that his morning song causes the sun to rise. As he lords over the farm, jealous animals begin to plot his undoing. Told in four acts (night and morning; and again the next night and morning), I found the themes of idealism, pride, purpose, love, and envy powerful and oh so human. Try to get Kay Nolte-Smith's translation, who, interestingly, was a long-time friend of Ayn Rand. You can read my full recommendation for Chantecler here.
4. The Redwall Series by Brian Jacques. A childhood favorite series, whose paperbacks I still have. There are over twenty (I think) novels, but Redwall was the first. Its namesake is a big, homely, castle with some secrets being defended by mice, shrews, and squirrels against Cluny, a vengeful rat and his posse of foxes, stoats, and rats. Lots of fun songs, accents, and animal cultures developed. Jacques himself was a character — he spent a lifetime as a longshoreman, truck driver, police officer, and handyman, before crushing the children's literature scene.
5. The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. It's been sixteen years since discovering the novel Eragon. Back in August 2002, I road-tripped with my best friend dan and his family from Philadelphia to a small town in Montana called Paradise Valley near Yellowstone National Park. Somewhere during the bison-induced traffic jams, altitude sickness, and late-night card games, I managed to drag Dan downtown and into a dusty bookstore. There, to our amazement, we learned that a local boy named Christopher Paolini, who was not much older than us, had self-published a novel about a sapphire blue dragon. I'm adding this to the list because the dragon's thoughts are heard and felt by the boy, making them a powerful duo in a magically complex world. I still appreciate Saphira's wisdom and perspective.
6. Animal Farm by George Orwell. I love dystopias and this one shows brilliantly the dangers of political power and how idealistic causes are often corrupted by their own idealists. Also, I always felt so bad for the glue-factor-bound horse.
7. Stuart Little by E.B. White. This is a sneaky-good philosophical book. I remember sympathizing a lot with Stuart, who wanted a bigger life — to rise above his stature — to see the big world — and was confident that his dreams were worthy of being realized.
8. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. The only spider I ever loved.
9. Aesop's Fables by Aesop. Perhaps the world's first attempt at anthropomorphizing. I love the lessons gleaned from recurring animal characters in Aesop's fables. One of my favorites (a non-animal fable: "An Astronomer used to go out at night to observe the stars. One evening, as he wandered through the suburbs with his whole attention fixed on the sky, he fell accidentally into a deep well. While he lamented and bewailed his sores and bruises, and cried loudly for help, a neighbor ran to the well, and learning what had happened said: “Hark ye, old fellow, why, in striving to pry into what is in heaven, do you not manage to see what is on earth?”
10. Bambi by Felix Salten. I think powerlessness is something that many if not most children feel often. It's part of the reason why I think Darth Vader and other villains often fascinate young ones. Bambi's story (quite different than Disney) depicts a dangerous and unknown forest in which he and other deer must fight and flee to survive.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
 The Genius of Birds Jennifer Ackerman |  Awaking Beauty: The Art of Eyvind Earle |
