It’s summer reading time! Many of my friends are avid readers or, like me, enthusiastic listeners to audiobooks. Among them, many of the animal professionals and pet guardians were inspired to learn more about pets and animals, real and fictional, by what they read when they were young.
I asked online if my friends would answer this question: “What’s your favorite fictional animal, and why? Who wrote about it, in what books?” Here are some of their very interesting answers.
David Bozak (New York) Either Mighty Mouse (animator Isidore Klein) or Crusader Rabbit (Jay Ward, who later created Rocky and Bullwinkle)—can’t decide. More recently, Satchel in the Get Fuzzy cartoon strip by Darby Conley.
Mandy Collins (United Kingdom) Shadow the Sheepdog by Enid Blyton. As a child I loved it because of the relationship between Shadow and the boy Johnny.
Teresa Tuttle (Texas) The dog, Einstein, in The Watchers by Dean Koontz!
Jamie Robinson (Florida) Dragons, specifically those in the books by Anne McCaffrey—Dragonriders of Pern. I’ve always been fascinated by dragons, I can’t remember how young, but [I was] very young when I developed this fascination. Dragons are portrayed as evil and good, as hoarders and wise beings. In the Pern books, they were created by humans to fight a spore that would fall from space on the planet and eat anything organic. They breathe fire to kill the spores and have a telepathic link to their riders.
Tony Cruse (United Kingdom) Veronica the dog, in Alice Cooper’s song, “For Veronica’s Sake.” The owner needs to get out of the psych ward because if he doesn’t, they are gonna gas Veronica!
Myles Harrison (United Kingdom) Black Beauty. Not sure you need a why, it’s the ultimate childhood story, by Anna Sewell.
Debby McMullen (Pennsylvania) If this can be completely fictional, mine is Corra, a Firedrake in Deborah Harkness’ A Discovery of Witches. Because why not have a Firedrake to do your bidding?
Jessica Stinson Hudson (Alabama) Kehaar the seagull in Watership Down (Richard Adams). Also I kind of love Kaa, the python in The Jungle Book.
Evelyn Hughes (California) Oy, in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. “Oy is a billy bumbler, or throcken, who is described as a cross between a raccoon, a woodchuck and a dachshund. He has gray and black striped fur, gold-rimmed eyes and a squiggly tail.” Smart, loyal, and fearless. I’m a huge Oy fan.
Alisha Ardiana (California) Old Dan and Little Ann, Where the Red Fern Grows.
Steven Cogswell (Colorado) Oberon, the Irish Wolfhound in The Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne. Since Oberon can communicate telepathically with his human (Atticus), we get to know what he’s thinking. He’s a brilliantly realized character.
Karla Smele (United Kingdom) Mattie: The Story of a Hedgehog, by Gordon Douglas Griffiths.
Annie Zeck (Washington) Lad: A Dog, of course! In Lad: A Dog, published first in 1919 by Albert Payton Terhune. A little girl in Minnesota thought that New Jersey must be the most beautiful place on earth. Sandy the golden retriever was my own Lad, just as loyal and protective and beautiful.
Sue Heron (Florida) Puff the Magic Dragon for sure for me.
Adrienne Critchlow (United Kingdom) Shadow the Sheepdog by Enid Blyton, Black Beauty, Tarka the Otter, Cop Shooter, Elsa from Born Free. I’m sorry, couldn’t pick just one! [I] got so excited about remembering all those fabulous books of my childhood [I] forgot to say why they are so good. Shadow, because of his love for Johnny; Black Beauty, so beautiful and so sad (I’ll never forget Ginger); Tarka, beautifully written, funny and sad; Cop Shooter, a story of redemption for a boy and his stray dog (when I was young, no one wrote stories about girls and dogs—lots of ponies, but no dogs); Elsa, well, she’s a lion. The dragons of Pern for a fantastic whole other world with incredible animals that can talk telepathically to their riders. Who wouldn’t want to be able to communicate on that level with any animal, let alone a dragon?
Ron Ford (Washington) I was very touched by Thomasina the cat as a child. Haven’t revisited it as an adult and won’t because I don’t want to spoil the memories.
Jacqui Halvorson (Washington) The Cheshire Cat—the smile, the catitude, the ability to disappear! Toothless the dragon, too! Just so darn cute!
Missy Masterson (Arkansas) The Velveteen Rabbit was always one of my favorites. He was so wise and loving.
Ingrid Bock (New York) Lassie in Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight was my first exposure to dog training, I realized just now (so thanks for the question). All my life I’ve remembered how they taught her not to eat treats from anyone other than her guardians (not force free, unfortunately, but not horrible, either, considering the times). I remember a lot of other stuff, too, and I adored the ending. Although looking back I recognize anthropomorphism in the book, I really enjoyed seeing the world through a dog’s senses, even if no human author can actually know that s/he is getting it right. Now I want to read the book again . . .
Marcy Rauch (New York) The Abandoned by Paul Gallico (also wrote Thomasina). Fascinating look at life from a cat’s perspective/learning to be a cat! About The Abandoned: “London hasn’t been kind to Peter, a lonely boy whose parents are always out at parties, and though Peter would love to have a cat for company, his nanny won’t hear of it. One day, Peter sees a striped kitten in the park across from his house. Crossing the road on his way to the tabby, he is struck by a truck. Everything is different when Peter comes to: He has fur, whiskers, and claws; he has become a cat himself! But London isn’t any kinder to cats than it is to children. Jennie, a savvy stray who takes charge of Peter, knows that all too well. Jennie schools young Peter in the ways of cats, including how to sniff out a nice napping spot, the proper way to dine on mouse, and the single most important tactic a cat can learn: ‘When in doubt, wash.’ Jennie and Peter will face many challenges—and not all of them are from the dangerous outside world—in their struggle to find a place that is truly home.”
Donna-Leigh Rowley (Ontario) The Littlest Hobo
Olwen Turns (United Kingdom) All horses. The Black Stallion, the Silver Brumby series (such amazingly funny animals in those books), Shantih in the Jinny books by Patricia Leith, the Phantom Horse series by Christine Pullein-Thompson, Black Beauty, and Wilbur the pig in Charlotte’s Web. And although not technically an animal, Gurgi in The Black Cauldron.
Amy Suggars (Ohio) Misty of Chincoteague. She inspired my lifelong love of horses.
Gloria Jackson O’Connell (Washington) The Black Stallion series by Walter Farley . . . and I love the movie.
How many of these favorite fictional animals have you met on the pages of a book?
Will you encounter at least one of them this year in your summer reading or viewing?
I hope you enjoy their adventures as much as all the readers who commented did!
