1. Fantasy stories in which main characters areanthropomorphic animals that talk, experienceemotions, and have the ability to reason like humans. Anthropomorphic animals are animals with humancharacteristics.

2. Questions to ask yourself: How believable are the anthropomorphic animals? Does the protagonist possess an appropriate mix ofboth animal and human characteristics? Does the book tell a good story that children willenjoy? Is the plot credible? 3. Includes one or more animals as the focus of the story. Stories appeal to children. Children can relate to the stories because of their pets. Young children may see animals as having human characteristics. Animals in these books have human traits like talking, forming friendships,and wearing clothing. Some very popular books focus on animal protagonists Curious George,Peter Rabbit, and Paddington Bear. Authors use animal characters because they can convey ideas by analogy,ideas which have greater impact than if child characters are used. The most common plots take place in contemporary setting and focus onevery day issues that mimic human nature. Animal stories are often childrens favorite books. 4. 1877: Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horseby Anna Sewell First significant animal fantasy story Published in England Not written as a childrens book written as a protest against thecruel treatment of animals 1902: The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter Protype of childrens picture story books Potter privately printed the first edition after 6 publishers turned herdown Cautionary tale warning children about consequences of notminding their parents 1908: The Wind in the Willows by KennethGraham First major animal fantasy novel specifically for children Written in England Different customs and vocabulary make it difficult for children toread 5. 1942: The Pokey Little Puppy by Janette Lowrey Named all-time best-selling childrens picture book in the U.S. byPublishers Weekly About 15 million copies were sold in the U.S. in the first 58 years ofits publication 1952: Charlottes Web by E.B. White Most-loved animal fantasy novel of the twentieth century The all-time best-selling childrens paper back book in the U.S. More than 11 million copies sold in the U.S. in the first 48 years ofits publication 1957: The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss Protype of easy-to-read picture story books written on a beginningreaders level Dr. Seuss published more than 60 childrens books 6. Type I: Anthropomorphic Animals in an All-Animal World Type II: Anthropomorphic Animals Coexistingwith Humans Type III: Talking Animals in Natural Habitats Type IV: Realistic Animals with Human ThinkingAbility 7. The anthropomorphic animals take theplace of humans and exist in a totallyanimal world.Animal characters behave mostly likehumans talking, living in house, eatinghuman food, wearing clothes.Examples: Frog and Toad are Friendsby Arnold Lobel and Tulip and LupinForever by Mireille Levert 8. Animals coexist with humans, sometimes in ahuman dominated world. May or may not be able to speak and sometimesmove back and forth from the animal world to thehuman world. Common characters: pets, farm animals, mice,and wild animals Examples: Charlottes Web by E.B. White andDiary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin 9. Animals do not wear clothes or live in housesand humans are not present. Animals live in natural-type habitats anddisplay many animal traits. Animals are able to talk to animals of allspecies, and they portray human emotions andthoughts. Examples: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by EricCarle and Into the Wild by Erin Hunter 10. It is set in the real world, so animals live in appropriate habitats. Their knowledge of human ways is limited to what they canobserve and comprehend. They can communicate with animals of the same species only. The author tells the story through the animals point of view andassigns some human emotions to the animal characters becauseof this. It is a very small subcategory of Animal Fantasy Plots often show a conflict of some kind. Examples: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell and The Call of the Wildby Jack London 11. A sympathetic storyabout Sister Bear, whoconquers her fear ofstarting kindergarten.Sister Bear, nervousabout enteringkindergarten, overcomesher fears when shediscovers that school isreally fun."Activity: Listen to the story about going back toschool and pick out similarities anddifferences with how you feel about goingback to school. 12. Charlotte's Web has beenloved by generations ofchildren! This is the tale ofCharlotte the spider, and herefforts to save the life of herfriend, Wilbur the pig. It isbeautifully written, withmessages of compassionand caring."Activity: Students will write a letter to Mr. Arableabout what he should do with Wilbur. 13. Anansi the Spider uses astrange moss-covered rock inthe forest to trick all the otheranimals, until Little BushDeer decides he needs tolearn a lesson."Activity: Students will use the computers to look upAnansi the spider to find Anansis origins andmythological background. They will copy theinformation they find and share it with the class. 14. This is a tale of friendshipbetween a chicken and ahedgehog. Henny desperatelywants the hungry Tomten (amischievous elf) to stop eatingher eggs so that she can havechicks of her own. Hedgiecomes to her aid with a plan tofrighten the Tomten away forgood."Activity: Have the students make a time lineof the sequence of events that happenedin the story. 15. The Tale of Peter Rabbit isa childrens book writtenand illustrated by BeatrixPotter that followsmischievous anddisobedient young PeterRabbit as he is chasedabout the garden of Mr.McGregor."Activity: Students will do a characteranalysis of Peter Rabbit. 16. On a trip to thecountry, a little dognamed Muffinencounters all kindsof new and puzzlingsounds."Activity: The students will do a readerstheatre with The Summer Noisy Book. 17. https://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/wwr/animals.html http://childliterature.net/childlit/animal/ http://www-tc.pbskids.org/berenstainbears/caregiver/BB_Sec_5.pdf http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/berenstain-bears-go-to-school-stan-berenstain/1100192780?ean=9780394837369 https://www.teachervision.com/childrens-book/activity/1732.html http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/833229.Anansi_and_the_Moss_Covered_Rock http://www.liveoakmedia.com/client/guides/26754.pdf http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/hedgies-surprise-lesson-plan http://novelsummary.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/the-tale-of-peter-rabbit/ http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/237358.The_Summer_Noisy_Book Elementary Childrens Literature by Nancy A. Anderson