Publication year 2018
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Animals, Fathers, Family, Justice
Tags Children`s Literature, Action & Adventure, Realistic Fiction, Humor, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Animals
Animals in Literature
The selections in this Collection explore the common motif of animals in literature. From classic novels to contemporary poetry and nonfiction, these titles delve into the relationships between humans and animals, shedding light on the profound impact animals have on our lives and exploring humanity's relationship with the natural world.
Squirm
Starry Messenger
Starter Villain
Stella
Stone Fox
Stuart Little
Summer of Riley
Summer of the Monkeys
Survival of the Friendliest
Temple Grandin
Tex
The Aquanaut
The Art of Racing in the Rain
The Backyard Bird Chronicles
The Barren Grounds
The Battle of the Labyrinth
The Beak of the Finch
The Bean Trees
The Bear
The Beatryce Prophecy
Publication year 2018
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Animals, Fathers, Family, Justice
Tags Children`s Literature, Action & Adventure, Realistic Fiction, Humor, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Animals
Publication year 2022
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Space, Education, Truth & Lies, Science & Technology, Order & Chaos, Community, Gender Identity
Tags Science & Nature, Philosophy, World History, Politics & Government, Animals, Education, Diversity, Disability, Food, Health, Internet & Social Media, Military & War, Race & Racism, Religion & Spirituality, Social Justice, Technology, Philosophy
Publication year 2023
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Animals, Social Class, Good & Evil, Loyalty & Betrayal, Power & Greed
Tags Science Fiction, Fantasy, Humor, Animals
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Death, Friendship, Animals
Tags Realistic Fiction, Animals, Health, Grief & Death, Trauma & Abuse, Children`s Literature, Disability
Publication year 1980
Genre Novel, Fiction
Tags Action & Adventure, Sports, Children`s Literature, Education, Education, Animals, Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction
Published in 1980, John Reynolds Gardiner’s debut children’s novel, Stone Fox is a beloved children’s story. Included on the 1980 New York Times Notable Books of the Year listing, Stone Fox sold millions of copies and was even adapted into a television show in 1987. The short children’s novel tells the story of Little Willy, a young boy who lives on a farm in Wyoming with his grandfather and his dog, Searchlight. The story follows... Read Stone Fox Summary
Publication year 1945
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Coming of Age, Childhood & Youth, Self Discovery
Tags Children`s Literature, Classic Fiction, Fantasy, Animals, Action & Adventure
Stuart Little (1945) is E. B. White’s first children’s book—the collected stories of Stuart, a mouse-boy born into a human family. White was a journalist and humorist who wrote for the United Press, the Seattle Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The New Yorker, and Harper’s Magazine. He received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Prize in 1970 for contributions to children’s literature for the much beloved Charlotte’s Web, and in 1973, The Trumpet of the Swan won the Sequoyah... Read Stuart Little Summary
Publication year 2000
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Perseverance, Justice, Order & Chaos
Tags Children`s Literature, Animals, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 1976
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Perseverance, Coming of Age, Friendship
Tags Historical Fiction, Animals, Action & Adventure, Children`s Literature, Education, Education, World History, Classic Fiction
Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls is a middle grade historical novel first published in 1976. Set in rural Oklahoma’s Ozark Mountains in the late 1800s, the story follows 14-year-old Jay Berry Lee as he tries to capture a group of monkeys that escaped from their circus train. The monkeys, and especially the chimpanzee who leads them, prove themselves wily adversaries for Jay Berry, who desperately wants the reward money that will accompany their... Read Summer of the Monkeys Summary
Publication year 2020
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Nature Versus Nurture, Community, Safety & Danger
Tags Anthropology, Anthropology, Animals, Science & Nature, Sociology, World History, Psychology, Psychology
Publication year 2011
Genre Biography, Nonfiction
Themes Disability, Animals, Equality
Tags Disability, Animals, Inspirational, Agriculture, Children`s Literature, Science & Nature, Biography
Author and naturalist Sy Montgomery’s Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World (2012) is a biography of the animal behaviorist, animal rights advocate, and autism activism Temple Grandin. The biography is intended for young adult readers and discusses Grandin’s life from early childhood to the present day. It explores the challenges she faced with autism, the development of her creativity and her passion for animals, and the persistence... Read Temple Grandin Summary
Publication year 1979
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Siblings, Coming of Age, Fathers, Childhood & Youth, Family, Friendship, Social Class
Tags Realistic Fiction, Relationships, Animals
In small town Oklahoma during the 1970s, a rough-and-tumble teenager learns to navigate the world with his older brother and a mostly absent father in S. E. Hinton’s young adult fiction novel Tex. Published in 1979, the book was subsequently made into a popular movie starring young Matt Dillon in the title role. Hinton herself has written that Texas McCormick is the favorite of all her iconic characters, so good natured and even tempered that... Read Tex Summary
Publication year 2022
Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Fiction
Themes Conflict, Grief, Guilt, Animals, Environment
Tags Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Children`s Literature, Animals
Publication year 2008
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Death, Birth, Loyalty & Betrayal, Family
Tags Philosophy, Animals, Modern Classic Fiction
Published in 2008, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a New York Times bestselling novel by Garth Stein. It follows the life of race car driver Denny Swift and is told from the perspective of his dog, Enzo. Stein was inspired to write the book after watching the 1998 Mongolian documentary State of Dogs about a dog who is reincarnated as a human after death, and after seeing the poet Billy Collins read... Read The Art of Racing in the Rain Summary
Publication year 2024
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Art, Joy, Animals, Environment, Beauty, Literature, Religion & Spirituality, Science & Technology
Tags Memoir & Autobiography, Creative Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Animals
Publication year 2020
Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Fiction
Themes Colonialism, Environment, Self Discovery
Tags Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Children`s Literature, Animals
Publication year 2008
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Childhood & Youth, Environment, Teamwork
Tags Mythology, Fantasy, Coming of Age, Animals, Arts & Culture, Climate Change, European History, American Literature, Children`s Literature, Action & Adventure
The Battle of the Labyrinth is a fantasy-adventure novel inspired Greek mythology and written in 2008 by Rick Riordan. It is the fourth in the Percy Jackson series.The novel begins with Percy Jackson is at his freshman orientation at Good High School. Rachel Elizabeth Dare helps him fight two empousai, spectres who were disguised as cheerleaders. Percy flees to Camp Half-Blood, but Rachel remains. Percy is reunited with Annabeth, and they learn Grover is in... Read The Battle of the Labyrinth Summary
Publication year 1994
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Tags Science & Nature, World History, Animals
The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time is a Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction book written in 1994 by Jonathan Weiner, a journalist and popular science author. This substantially unchanged edition was published in 2014 with a new preface.Weiner’s narrative relays the theory and history of evolutionary science through a case study of finch species in the Galápagos Islands. It follows evolutionists Peter and Rosemary Grant as they build substantially on the... Read The Beak of the Finch Summary
Publication year 1988
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Fear, Hope, Love, Family, Friendship, Daughters & Sons, Nature Versus Nurture, Plants, Community, Self Discovery
Tags Realistic Fiction, Relationships, Animals, Depression & Suicide, Diversity, Immigration & Refugeeism, Parenting, Poverty, Politics & Government, Race & Racism, Science & Nature, Social Justice, Trauma & Abuse, Education, Education, Modern Classic Fiction, Classic Fiction
The Bean Trees (first published in 1988) is the first novel by Barbara Kingsolver. Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist, and poet who holds degrees in ecology and evolutionary biology, and her work often addresses biodiversity, social justice, communities, and people’s interactions with their environment. The Bean Trees is a work of realistic adult fiction that follows Taylor Greer as she leaves her rural upbringing in Kentucky, drives across the country to Tucson, Arizona, and... Read The Bean Trees Summary
Publication year 1942
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Coming of Age, Environment, Justice
Tags Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Animals, Science & Nature, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, Southern Gothic, Reconstruction Era, US History, Southern Literature, American Literature, World History, Classic Fiction
“The Bear” is a work of short fiction by William Faulkner, first published in The Saturday Evening Post in May 1942. Faulkner subsequently expanded the story and included it in Go Down, Moses, a collection of related short stories sometimes considered a novel, published later that year. An abbreviated version also appears in his 1955 anthology, Big Woods. As historical fiction set in an imagined Mississippi county, “The Bear” traces a young man’s development in... Read The Bear Summary
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Fate, Self Discovery, Perseverance, Friendship, Truth & Lies, Animals, Memory
Tags Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Children`s Literature, Trauma & Abuse, Animals, World History, Historical Fiction