Books told from the perspective of animals

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I'm reading "The Call of the Wild", and I was just wondering what other books are out there which tell the story from an animals (other than human) pov.

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 18:13 (twenty-three years ago)

"The Mouse and the Motorcycle"

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 18:16 (twenty-three years ago)

"Black Beauty"?

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 18:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Akif Pirincci : Felidae

a mew-dunit

― jot eff pe (Wintermute), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 18:20 (twenty-three years ago)

Irvine Welsh' books.

― nathalie (nathalie), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 18:21 (twenty-three years ago)

This genre was a mainstay in the 1970s best seller lists. I call as my witnesses:

Jonathon Livingston Seagull
Watership Down

― Aimless, Wednesday, 5 February 2003 18:22 (twenty-three years ago)

E. B. White all the way. Charlotte's Web in particular...and of course The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 18:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Many excellent books by Robert Lawson, told from the perspective of Paul Revere's horse, Ben Franklin's mouse, Captain Kidd's cat, and so forth.

― Paul-Eater, Wednesday, 5 February 2003 18:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Does Fluke count?

― Dave B (daveb), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 18:37 (twenty-three years ago)

A Cricket In Times Square.

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 18:37 (twenty-three years ago)

There's one about a salmon's life story by Roderick Haig-Brown. Also, anything by Beatrix Potter.

― Poppy (poppy), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 18:39 (twenty-three years ago)

Watership Down's got a sequel, too, Tales of [or from?] Watership Down. Plague Dogs, by the same author (Richard Adams or Addams, I forget how he spells it), is from the pov of two dogs who escape from an experiment-and-vivisect joint. I know his book Shardik is about a bear, but I'm not sure if it's from the bear's pov or not.

Tad Williams' Tailchaser's Song is a heroic fantasy novel, pretty much, from the point of view of a cat.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 19:09 (twenty-three years ago)

All of the Redwall series by Brian Jacques is told from the perspective of animals. He's a very descriptive writer, picture woodland creatures on heroic medieval quests with swords and sorcery and you've got the basis for his books.

― Christopher (Christopher), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 19:12 (twenty-three years ago)

Tarka the Otter
Sam Pig and Sally
Olga Carries On. I think there's a whole range of Olga books, he's a hedgehog, that's the only one I have though.

I've just had a quick flick though Shardik, because I've never read it either, it doesn't look like it is from the bears POV.

― Celeste (Celeste), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 19:18 (twenty-three years ago)

E.B. White - Trumpet of the Swan (I loved it more than Charlotte's Web
James Howe - Bunnicula, Celery Stalks at Midnight, Etc.
Marguerite Henry - Brighty of the Grand Canyon (and I think some of her other books might well betold from the point of view of the horses or mules or whatever)
Sheila Burnford - The Incredible Journey
Felix Salten - Bambi:A Life in the Woods (NOT Disney!)
Dodi Smith - The Hundred and One Dalmations (NOT Disney!)
A.A. Milne - Not sure if this counts of not Winnie the Pooh
And I second Ned's suggestion of The Wind in the Willows - one of my favorites!

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 19:21 (twenty-three years ago)

Bunnicula

― rosemary (rosemary), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 19:30 (twenty-three years ago)

unbelievable as it may sound,
'the hills have eyes part 2'
has a dream sequence from
the point of view of a dog.

― piscesboy, Wednesday, 5 February 2003 19:31 (twenty-three years ago)

I have a signed copy of Bunnicula from when I was 5 or so.

Hey so finally a thread where I can ask this question: a while ago one of my friends was telling me about a book they'd been profiling on NPR, by a Russian author, in which each chapter, if I'm remembering right, had something to do with being different animals. Can anyone offer anything else on this?

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 19:36 (twenty-three years ago)

I think the word "Mister" was in the title.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 19:39 (twenty-three years ago)

Paul Auster's Timbuktu is told from the perspective of a dog.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 19:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Jean Stafford, Elephi, the Cat With the High IQ (found this at my mother's house over Christmas, nice to revisit a childhood favorite)

― j.lu (j.lu), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 19:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Nabisco, any idea how long ago the book was published (a year or so, I mean, not days or months)?

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 19:50 (twenty-three years ago)

I was disappointed when I read Flush by Virginia Woolf [Woof!] -- it's the biography of (IIRC) Elizabeth Barrett Browning's dog, but before I read it I thought it was going to be an autobiography and therefore brilliant. It was neither.

― Chris P (Chris P), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 19:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Patricia Highsmith, The Animal-Lover's Book of Beastly Murder.
V. unsettling.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 19:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Nabisco, is it You're An Animal, Viskovitz? http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375405283/ref=cm_wl_ovu-pg.6-pos.18/102-2621331-4785768?v=glance&coliid=I387XAURS09M6L&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I haven't read it, but it's been on my Amazon wishlist for a bit.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 19:57 (twenty-three years ago)

The Bear, wonderful old book for children but I forget the author.

The Duncton Woods Trilogy about moles was one fo the best things I had read since Lord Of The Rings, I wasn't so hot on the second trilogy.

The Celery Stalks At Midnight is another, I think it was related to Bunnicula but can't be sure.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 19:59 (twenty-three years ago)

The Bear, wonderful old book for children but I forget the author.

I take it not the Faulkner novel!

Yeah, The Celery Stalks at Midnight is the sequel to Bunnicula.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 20:02 (twenty-three years ago)

Nabisco, how about "Uncle Boris in the Yukon and Other Shaggy Dog Stories", by Daniel Pinkwater?

Tep - That "Viskovitz" book looks incredible - I just added it to my wish list. Thanks.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 20:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Tep has got it! Thank you so much, Tep, this has been bothering me for months.

There were three Bunnicula books, if I remember correctly.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 20:08 (twenty-three years ago)

ICK, though, Roz Chast illustrations! How awful. It sounds like Calvino, only with ... ICK, Roz Chast illustrations!

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 20:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Woo for me. Now I've got to buy the Viskovitz book soon, too. (And yeah, "sounds like Calvino" is how it got on my wish list -- I think it might've been an Amazon recommendation based on that.)

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 20:13 (twenty-three years ago)

What about "The Incredible Journey". I can't really remember, as I haven't read it since I was about eight.

― C J (C J), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 20:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Howliday Inn was the third?

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 20:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Sadly, there has been a whole spinoff of "Bunnicula"-based books - try B&N or Amazon and search on James Howe or Bunnicula and you'll get a pile of hits.

But I do think that the original three were "Bunnicula," "Celery Stalks at Midnight," and "Howliday Inn," from what my aged mind is recollecting.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 20:38 (twenty-three years ago)

I once read a great parody of Watership Down - "Ants f***ing on something hill" (can't really remember the title) set in a colony. Very funny for what it was, but all it was was a two-page vignette.

And then there's Animal Farm. It still brings a tear to the eye whenever Boxer is being taken to the knacker's yard.

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 22:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Trippy.

― suzy (suzy), Wednesday, 5 February 2003 22:55 (twenty-three years ago)

"Jennie" by Paul Gallico (but not really b/c it is a boy that turns into a cat)

"The Mouse and his Child" by Russell Hoban (but not really b/c they are mechanical toy animals)

oh, I had such sad books as a child!

It was the clock that spoke next, startling them with his flat brass voice. "I might remind you of the rules of clockwork," he said. "No talking before midnight and after dawn, and no crying on the job."
"He's not on the job," said the seal. "We're on our own time now."
"Toys that cry on their own time sometimes cry on the job," said the clock, "and no good ever comes of it. A word to the wise."

― rainy (rainy), Thursday, 6 February 2003 07:51 (twenty-three years ago)

"Jennie" was great, but very sad. I read a crap one once about dolphins called Moontide and a great one around the same time about killer whales called Orca (I think), but I always muddle them up.

― Sam (chirombo), Thursday, 6 February 2003 09:07 (twenty-three years ago)

also a new zealand one:

"Beak of the Moon" by Philipo Temple - told form the perspective of keas.

― rainy (rainy), Thursday, 6 February 2003 09:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Hey do any of you Antipodeans know one called The Bunyip of Berkeley's Creek? I loved that.

― Sam (chirombo), Thursday, 6 February 2003 09:16 (twenty-three years ago)

my last post should say Philip, not Philipo. I don't know the Bunyip one.

― rainy (rainy), Thursday, 6 February 2003 09:22 (twenty-three years ago)

beyond the last visible dog!!

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 6 February 2003 10:59 (twenty-three years ago)

arf

― rainy (rainy), Thursday, 6 February 2003 11:01 (twenty-three years ago)

http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/rif/word_fun/images/bookreviews/21oct/gobbolino.jpg

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 6 February 2003 11:01 (twenty-three years ago)

how about Natsume Soseki's Japanese classic from the late Meiji period, "Wagahai wa Neko dearu" ("i am a cat")?*

there's also a (bonkers!) shonen knife song that it inspired(?): http://pockyland.imess.net/crazy/theme-kp.html

I discover ears of a cat in the Milky Way
And I put them on my head
In a moment I become a sweet little cat
And I dance on a flying saucer
I Am A Cat
I Am A Cat
I Am A Cat

*i copied all that from some webpage, can you tell?

andy

― koogy, Thursday, 6 February 2003 11:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Dave, 'Fluke' definitely counts. It was the first one I thought of too.

― James Ball (James Ball), Thursday, 6 February 2003 13:08 (twenty-three years ago)

The Fly, a very unpleasant novel by Richard Chopping, who illustrated the original Bond books. Not, as I recall, told BY the fly, but definitely from its perspective. ("The fly smelled rotting meat.")

Also, yes rainy! I was thinking Hoban but couldn't come up with the book.

Do werewolves count as animals?

― Paul-Eater, Thursday, 6 February 2003 16:15 (twenty-three years ago)

how about Natsume Soseki's Japanese classic from the late Meiji period, "Wagahai wa Neko dearu" ("i am a cat")?*

Absolutely wonderful book, I read it recently. Great illustrations as well!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 6 February 2003 16:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Barbara Gowdy's White Bone is told from the POV of an elephant

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Thursday, 6 February 2003 16:38 (twenty-three years ago)

There's a film of I Am A Cat too, directed by Kon Ichikawa. I've not seen it.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 6 February 2003 18:45 (twenty-three years ago)

"Josephine the Singer!"

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 6 February 2003 19:46 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...

i bought blitz cat by robert westall at the book fair in primary school because the cat on the cover looked like my cat. it was about a cat that journeyed a long way during ww2 to find its soldier owner, and had lots of adventures along the way (and possibly changed the course of the war).

― minna (minna), Saturday, 22 March 2003 15:26 (twenty-three years ago)

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