Clarification of Answer by
leli-ga
on
15 Nov 2002 05:40 PST
Hello again Mei
There isn't much online that is specifically about animals in
children's literature but I do have suggestions which I hope will be
helpful. As long as you have access to a reasonable library, I think
you will find article and books to help you out.
ARTICLES AND BOOKS
******************
One of the major guides to articles and books on children's literature
is
"Children's Literature: A Guide to the Criticism", by Linnea
Hendrickson.
G.K. Hall/Macmillan (1987)
The author has made a lot of her work available online at:
http://www.unm.edu/~lhendr/
She has included a searchable database. Here is a list of the headings
found when using 'animals' as a search term. (Sorry about the way it
cuts off the words at the end of the line. That's just the way it
comes out from the search.)
LINDSAY, NORMAN (1879-1969) A1564 ROE, MARJORIE. "A Magic Pudding
BURNFORD, SHEILA (1918-85) A455 KERTZER, ADRIENNE E. "Animal Lessons
TUDOR, TASHA (1915- ) A2451 HONTZ, HSE L. "Tasha Tudor." Catholic
BOND, MICHAEL (1926- ) A327 BLOUNT, MARGARET. "Animals are Equal:
FABLES B705 BLOUNT, MARGARET. "Folklore and Fable." In Ani
STUART, JESSE (1907-84) A2337 LE MASTER, J.R., and CLARKE, MARY WASHI
STARBIRD, KAYE (1916- ) A2279 HELBIG, ALETHEA. "Abigail, Elaine, and
ANTHROPOMORPHISM B97 DERBY, JAMES. "Anthropomorphism in Children'
COONEY, BARBARA (1917- ) A651 COONEY, BARBARA. "Caldecott Award
"Rumpelstiltskin" A2049 CLODD, EDWARD. "The Philosophy of
GEORGE, JEAN CRAIGHEAD (1919- ) A1012 GEORGE, JEAN CRAIGHEAD.
LAGERLOF, SELMA (1858-1940) A1427 BERENDSOHN, WALTER. Selma Lagerlof:
RINGWOOD, GWEN PHARIS (1910- ) A2024 ANTHONY, GERALDINE. "The Magic
Carp
ANIMALS B67 BIRKS, JOHN. "Horses in Books." Junior Bookshe
LOFTING, HUGH (1886-1947) A1608 BLISHEN, EDWARD. Hugh Lofting. London
HUGHES, TED (1930- ) A1242 ADAMS, JOHN. "Dark Rainbow: Reflection
DE JONG, MEINDERT (1906- ) A745 BURGESS, ELEANOR. "Meindert De Jong,
LAWSON, ROBERT (1892-1957) A1440 BADER, BARBARA. American
JARRELL, RANDALL (1914-65) A1289 ADAMS, CHARLES M., comp. Randall
Jarre
NEWBERY AND CALDECOTT AWARD BOOKS B1314 KINGMAN, LEE, ed. Newbery and
Cal
HOBAN, RUSSELL (1925- ) A1188 BADER, BARBARA. American Picturebooks,
BRUCKNER, KARL (1906- ) A413 KINGSTON, CAROLYN. Tragic Mode, pp. 11
ANDERSEN, HANS CHRISTIAN (1805-75) A97 BAYLEY, JOHN. "Duckling Among
the S
WAR B2122 BARKER, KEITH. "The Glory of the Garden: Evacue
SETON, ERNEST THOMPSON (1860-1946) A2165 MacDONALD, ROBERT H.
KIPLING, RUDYARD (1865-1936) A1362 ANDERSON, CELIA CATLETT. "`O Best
Bel
LEWIS, C[LIVE] S[TAPLES] (1898-1963) A1524 AYMARD, ELIANE. "On C.S.
Lewis
POTTER, BEATRIX (1866-1943) A1924 ALDERSON, BRIAN. "The Tailor of
Glouc
VALUES B2072 ARKSEY, LAURA. "Books, Children, and Moral Valu
FANTASY B815 ALEXANDER, LLOYD. "Fantasy as Images: A Litera
FAIRY TALES B711 ADAMS, RICHARD. Review. NYTBR, 3 November 19
PICTURE BOOKS B1422 ABRAHAMSON, RICHARD F. "An Analysis of Child
If you do the search yourself you will be able to click on each
individual heading to get to a short description of the article or
book, or in some cases several. Here's an example:
" BLOUNT, MARGARET. "The Moral Tale." In Animal Land, pp.42-60.
Traces the use of animals in moral tales from early times through
the twentieth century."
.......................................................................
Another page on the same site has listings by topic:
http://www.unm.edu/~lhendr/txtfiles/2a-z.txt
(Apologies in advance if this list doesn't come out looking neat.)
ANIMALS
-------
BIRKS, JOHN. "Horses in Books." Junior Bookshelf 10, no. 4 (Decem
ber 1946):166-72.
Discusses Will James's Smoky, Mary O'Hara's My Friend
Flicka, Anna Sewell's Black Beauty, and Primrose Cumming's Ben, as ell
as, briefly, a number of "pony" stories.
B68 BLOUNT, MARGARET. Animal Land: The Creatures of Children's
Fiction. London: Hutchinson, 1974, 336 pp.
Explores the role of animals--real, toy, and
imaginary--in children's literature. Also indexed separately in this
bibliography under individual authors and topics treated at length.
B69 BURNFORD, SHEILA. "Animals All The Way." Canadian Library 19
(July 1962):30-32.
Explores the role of animals in children's books from
those for the very youngest up to the adult level.
B70 BUSH, MARGARET. "In Search of the Perfect Shark Book." SLJ
25
(March 1979):108-9.
Reviews a number of recent nonfiction books on sharks.
B71 BYRNE, BARBARA. "Cats in Literature." EE 51 (October
1974):955-58.
A brief bibliography of six fictional works and one
informational book about cats. Each annotation includes "not only a
summary of the work, but a statement of basic concepts within the
work, a critique of literary value, read-aloud possibilities and
illustrations within the work."
B72 CAMPBELL, A. "Stories About Dogs: A Critical Survey."
School
Librarian 20, no. 2 (June 1972):107-12.
A critical international bibliography of dog stories.
B73 Canadian Children's Literature "The Canadian Animal Story."
1, no. 2
(Summer 1975).
Special issue. Includes articles on Roderick
Haig-Brown, Charles
G.D. Roberts, and a general survey, "Tales of the
Wilderness: The
Canadian Animal Story," by Muriel Whitaker (pp. 38-46).
B74 COLWELL, EILEEN. "Of Mice and Men: Some Light-Hearted
Thoughts on Mice in Children's Books." Junior Bookshelf
21, no. 4
(1957):180-86.
After examining a number of stories about mice,
concludes, "But
why do children enjoy reading about mice in stories? Let a
six-year-
old boy answer: `Because they are small--and because they
have
whiskers.'"
B75 CROUCH, MARCUS. "Open Air." In The Nesbit Tradition, pp.
142-60.
Analyzes several stories about outdoor adventure and
animals, many by British and Australian authors. Includes Ransome's
Great Northern, Kathleen Peyton's Fly-By-Night, and others.
B76 ELLEMAN, BARBARA. "The Animal Fact." Booklist 73
(1977):664-65.
Sets forth criteria for evaluating various categories of
children'sinformational books about animals.
B77 ELLIS, ALEC. "Man and Beast." Junior Bookshelf 32, no. 5
(October
1968):279-83.
Considers briefly the theme of kindness to animals.
B78 FARMER, LILLAH. "Rabbits in Children's Books." LA 53 (May
1976):527-30.
An overview of many favorite rabbit books for children.
Includes a bibliography.
B79 FORD, MARY. "The Wolf as Victim." CCL 7 (1977):5-15.
Traces the history of the wolf in literature,
emphasizing children's literature, showing the falseness of the
stereotypes,and concluding with the more accurate portrayals of wolves
in the works of Charles G.D. Roberts, and the favorable views in Julie
of the Wolves and works by Farley Mowat and Claude Aubrey.
B80 JAN, ISABELLE. "Animal Land." In On Children's Literature,
pp.
79-89.
Explores the role of animals in children's literature,
particularly
in Kipling's books. Sees the animal world as the child's
earthly
paradise, as represented in such works as Kenneth Grahame's
Wind in
the Willows and Randall Jarrell's Animal Family.
B81 JORDAN, ALICE M. "Animals in Fairyland." Horn Book 17 (Novem
ber 1941):439-43. (Reprinted in Fryatt, Horn Book Sampler,
pp.
146-49.)
Discusses "real animals in an unreal world" in a number
of books
from the 1930s.
B82 LAWRENCE, JOSEPH. "Animals and `Dressed Animals.'" Junior
Book
shelf 21 (December 1967):289-94.
Provides a brief overview of various categories of
animal books.
B83 MAGEE, WILLIAM H. "The Animal Story: A Canadian Specialty."
CCL 14 (1979):67-69.
Reviews Muriel Whitaker's anthology, Great Canadian
Animal
Stories, commenting on the nature of the Canadian
contribution to
the genre.
B84 "The Animal Story: A Challenge in Technique." Dalhousie
Review, Summer 1964. (Reprinted in Egoff, Only Connect,
pp.
221-32.)
Discusses the development of the realistic animal story
beginning
with Anna Sewell's Black Beauty and Margaret Marshall
Saunders'
Beautiful Joe, but emphasizing the work of Canadian writer
Sir
Charles G.D. Roberts.
B85 O'DONNELL, HOLLY. "Animals in Literature." LA 57 (April
1980):451-54.
A bibliographic essay mentioning critical articles on
animals in
children's literature available in documents from the
Educational
Document Reproduction Service.
B86 OSBORNE, EDGAR. "Animals In Books." Junior Bookshelf 9, no.
1
(March 1945):1-9;no. 2 (July 1945):47-56.
Part 1 discusses the realistic animal story, up to
Kipling; part 2
the fanciful and nonsense animal story.
B87 PITTS, DEIRDRE DWEN. "Discerning the Animal of a Thousand
Faces." Children's Literature 3 (1974):169-72.
Discusses the animal as hero in myth, folklore, and
children's
literature.
B88 POLL, BERNARD. "Why Children Like Horse Stories." EE 38
(November 1961):473-75.
Discusses the psychological reasons for children's love
of horse
stories.
B89 PROCTER, GERALDINE. ". . . Masses of Bears. . . ." Junior
Book
shelf 25 (March 1961):63-70.
Surveys bears in children's books. Additional comments
by Roger
L. Green, "Sing Ho! The Life of a Bear," follow in October
1961,
pp. 202-4.
B90 RAYNER, MARY. "Some Thoughts on Animals in Children's Books."
Signal 29 (May 1979):81-87.
Discusses the ways in which predatory aggression is
handled in
children's fiction and nonfiction about animals.
B91 SALE, ROGER. Fairy Tales, pp. 77-99.
Sees the animal story as the strongest link between
fairy tales and
modern children's literature. Discusses the conventions of
"talking
animals."
B92 "Sense and Sensibility: The Course of Animal Fiction." TLS,
2 July
1971, pp. 763-4.
Comments on the history of animal stories with an animal
point
of view and reviews several recent titles.
B93 SIMON, MINA LEWITON. "Crickets, Raccoons, and Writers."
Library
Journal 90 (15 May 1965):2336-37 and SLJ 12 (May
1965):32-33.
Urges awareness of stereotyped and prejudiced portrayals
of ani
mals in children's books and argues animals should be
presented
fairly and accurately.
B94 TULLY, DEBORAH SHIELDS. "Nature Stories--Unrealistic
Fiction."
EE 51 (March 1974):348-52.
Discusses danger in animal stories that are too
realistic to be
fantasy but are full of half-truths about animals.
B95 VINSON, ESTHER. "The Newer Animal Story." EER 6 (October
1929):197-200.
Sees a trend toward simple realism and away from
sentimentalism
and pseudorealism. Comments upon several books
illustrating this
trend.
B96 WIDDICOMBE, JOAN T. "Children's Science Books About Animals--
Criteria and Evaluation." In MacLeod, Children's
Literature, pp.
36-54.
Provides criteria for evaluating informational books
about animals
and evaluates a number of titles based upon these criteria.
Includes
a bibliography on children's science book evaluation.
ANTHROPOMORPHISM
-----------------
B97 DERBY, JAMES. "Anthropomorphism in Children's Literature or
`Mom,
My Doll's Talking Again.'" EE 47 (February 1970):190-92.
A brief introduction to the topic of anthropomorphism in
chil
dren's literature.
B98 MARKOWSKY, JULIET KELLOGG. "Why Anthropomorphism in Chil
dren's Literature?" EE 52 (April 1975):460-62, 466.
Examines the role of talking animals in children's books
by Rob
ert Lawson, L. Leslie Brooke, Beatrix Potter, and E.B.
White. Sug
gests that writers use anthropomorphic animals to help
children
identify with the characters, to engage in a needed flight
of fancy,
for variety, and for humor. Suggests a few outstanding
anthropo
morphic animal fantasy stories and discusses them briefly.
B99 SCHWARCZ, JOSEPH. "The Benign Image of Dehumanization." In
Ways of the Illustrator, pp. 150-68. (Reprinted in part
from
"Machine Animism in Modern Children's Literature," in
Fenwick,
Critical Approaches, pp. 78-95.)
Provides a fairly extensive discussion of a number of
books feat
uring anthropomorphized machines.
B100 VON ZWEIGBERGK, EVA. "What Are They Saying, Those Flowers and
Animals?" Bookbird 10, no. 3 (1972):23-28.
Traces the development of the anthropomorphic animals
and
flowers so common to children's literature back to J.J.
Grandville
..............................................................................
POSITIVE EFFECTS OF CHILDREN READING FICTION WITH ANIMAL CHARACTERS
*******************************************************************
A FEW SUGGESTIONS
-----------------
1 Animals can help children explore a difficult topic safely. If they
read about an animal going through something they have experienced, it
may help them to cope better.
* littleness, stupidity (Winnie-the-Pooh)
* pain, powerlessness (Black Beauty)
* naughtiness (Peter Rabbit)
2 Kind, strong animals can help build up a child's sense of
confidence, help them feel the world has good and helpful people in it
- e.g. the beavers in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". This
idea of animals as helpers is found particularly in discussions of
helpers in folklore and fairy tales.
3 Animal characters can give children an experience of fun or
adventure. Or they may combine entertainment with a message:
"Talking Beast Stories are stories in which animals and creatures talk
just as humans do. Generally, they teach a lesson such as the rewards
of courage, ingenuity, and independence. They are primarily good
entertainment due to their lively nature, as in Puss in Boots, Story
of the Three Little Pigs or The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Children
enjoy the exaggerated characterizations of human beings in the
animals."
Folktales
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/tradcarney.htm
4 Some children's literature helps children explore their relationship
to real animals and Nature - - though in these cases the animals may
not be exactly 'characters' if they are faithful represenatations of
real wild animals. See:
Children's Literature and Humane Attitudes
http://aphe.vview.org/packrat/july1999.htm
Farms
http://www.carolhurst.com/subjects/farms.html
Be Kind to Animals
http://www.education-world.com/a_books/books093.shtml
.................................................................
Two more links:
THE BROTHERS GRIMM AND USE OF ANIMALS IN TALES
This essay examines the role of animals in many popular Grimm Fairy
Tales. The stories examined are Cinderella, The Frog King and Little
Red Riding Hood. The paper examines both the use of animals in these
stories, as well as the likely symbolism that their appearance could
convey.
http://www.essaygirl.com/categories/131-008.html
The Bear in Folklore
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2002/08/23_bear-folklore.html
Good luck! Feel free to get back to me if anything else needs
clarification.
Regards - Leli
searches used:
children's literature fiction criticism essay article review animals
://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22children%27s+literature+OR+fiction%22+criticism+OR+essay+OR+article+OR+review+animals&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=30&sa=N
fairy tales animals
://www.google.co.uk/search?q=+%22fairy+tales%22+animals++site:.edu&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=10&sa=N
