Is it just me, or do other people dread beloved children’s classic animal stories the way I do?
My nieces and nephews are getting to that age. The age where they choose for themselves what they want to read, and naturally they think they want to read stories about animals. Because up ’til now in their sheltered little lives, animal stories have starred critters like the insoucient felines in The Cat in the Hat or Puss in Boots. It’s been Olivia, and Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Curious George, and Babar. All the animal stories they’ve read have happy triumphant endings. It’s been Goodnight Moon and Are You My Mother? all the way. The closest they’ve come to bleak tragedy is that bloody Velveteen Rabbit.
Oh, and that snuff film. Bambi.
But now…now it begins. I can hear Old Yeller howling in the distance, and the faraway clip clop of Black Beauty’s hooves. They’re coming!!
Talk about angst. Fan fiction could learn a few things from Weep No More My Lady or My Friend Flicka. I don’t even want to think about Where the Red Fern Grows!
I know these are mostly coming of age stories, stories of learning how to deal with love and loss — what does this say about me that I can’t even sit through the old Lassie movies without getting misty-eyed. Misty-eyed? Who am I kidding? I cry like a baby over those damned movies — and they, at least, end happily.
Secretly I sort of hope the kiddlings will deal a little more pragmatically than Auntie Di does with the childhood classics. There’s such a thing as being over-sensitive, and it’s not a particularly useful trait.
Come to think of it, I did like one series. The Black Stallion series. Now there were some great stories! Action, adventure, horses — and a practically autonomous young adult protag.
So how about it? Favorite heart-rending childhood classics anyone? Favorite animal protagonist?
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For me it was Lassie.
“What’s that, Lassie? Tommie fell in a well, landed on a rattlesnake and broke his leg? Take me to him.”
by Will Bereswill on November 12th, 2007 at 8:20 am
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I never got into reading about animal protagonists as a kid. I remember going from Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys (I was an equal opportunity reader) to Gone with the Wind and adult stuff. Does anyone else remember the Skippy TV-series, though? ‘Skippy, Skippy, Skippy the Bush-Kangaroo…’ Skippy did that Lassie-thing, too.
My favorite animal protagonist at the moment - Mr. Thrilling will appreciate this, I think, Diana - is Chet Gecko. I have an 8-yr-old, and we’re reading the latest - “Hiss Me Deadly” - at the moment. For those of you not familiar with Chet, he’s a 4th grade gecko detective at Emerson Hicky Elementary, and his partner and sidekick is a mockingbird, Natalie Attired. The books are spoofs on the old hardboiled private eye mysteries, and I think I’m laughing harder than the 8-year-old does.
by JennieB on November 12th, 2007 at 9:29 am
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Yep, The Black Stallion (and The Island Stallion) series ruled (slightly implausible though they were). And all the Marguerite Henry books (especially Mustang! - a factual retelling with some big, ugly facts on horse slaughter) and C.W. Anderson’s Billy and Blaze - great horse stories. Of course, the Jim Kjelgaard Big Red, Irish Red, and other assorted dog stories were even more my speed. And the collie stories of Alfred Payson Terhune, and the exceptional, Bob, Son of Battle by Alfred Ollifant. I’d go to my bookcases and be able to list fifteen others without a bit of trouble (I’ve kept them all and added to them when I find more), but I don’t want to take up all the space!:D
I don’t think I read a ‘kid’s book’ that didn’t have and animal in it until I was in middle school (except for Swamp Fox, which ended up being about Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War hero, and started me on my interest in history - go figure). In fact, even now I grab the Dog Lover’s mysteries (just finished Sunsan Conant’s All Shots), and most all that have dogs as characters, plus Rita Mae Brown’s Hunt mysteries, etc. (I’ve not gotten as much into the cat mysteries, but that might change - I do like cats.) Yep, if it’s got animals in it, even a little, I’ll look at it and probably read it.
by Kate Hathway on November 12th, 2007 at 9:31 am
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Never much into the critter fiction, but I do remember Old Yeller vividly.
That movie scarred me.
by David Terrenoire on November 12th, 2007 at 10:11 am
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Ack. I hated Old Yeller and don’t get me started on Where the Red Fern Grows - I loved it but it killed me every time.
I second the recommendation for Big Red. I like heroic animal stories where the animal doesn’t die. I also remember enjoying a book called “Gypsy from Nowhere”, which is a horse book, and the Teebo series (mysteries starring a dog and the two kids he could talk to). Also for a fun romp, try The Nine Lives of Catseye Gomez - a SF book about a genetically altered and enhanced cat (with kind of a Mike Hammer personality) who has to solve a mystery.
by B.E. Sanderson on November 12th, 2007 at 10:14 am
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Hey, Will, someone once gave me this cartoon of Lassie lying on a therapist’s couch and bitching away (no pun intended) to a sympathetic-looking shrink.
by Diana Killian on November 12th, 2007 at 10:46 am
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Jennie, yes! We’ve got a bunch of copies of the Chet Gecko series lying around here. Very amusing stuff.
by Diana Killian on November 12th, 2007 at 10:48 am
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Yep, The Black Stallion (and The Island Stallion) series ruled (slightly implausible though they were).
SLIGHTLY implausible? 
You are too kind, Kate. But who cares! What great stories of adventure those were.
And all the Marguerite Henry books (especially Mustang! - a factual retelling with some big, ugly facts on horse slaughter) and C.W. Anderson’s Billy and Blaze - great horse stories. Of course, the Jim Kjelgaard Big Red, Irish Red, and other assorted dog stories were even more my speed. And the collie stories of Alfred Payson Terhune,
Now you’re bringing back the memories. I didn’t even remember those until I saw the titles again. Yeah…good times in our little brick library on Saturday mornings…
by Diana Killian on November 12th, 2007 at 10:52 am
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David, that movie scarred everyone! I don’t know anyone who can bear to remember Old Yeller.
And what about The Yearling? What is it with those writers of a certain generation? Jeez, you’d think they’d had enough reality without trying to impress it upon innocent, trusting children.
by Diana Killian on November 12th, 2007 at 10:55 am
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Hey, BE! I like that. A genetically-altered cat with a Mike Hammer personality. I think Mr. Thrilling could go for that one.
by Diana Killian on November 12th, 2007 at 10:56 am
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Never really got into animal stories. I was more a Maurice Sendak kind of kid. Where The Wild Things Are. I liked monsters with big teeth.
And, heartless bastard that I am, Old Yeller never really got to me. Figured it should have just ended with,
“Dog’s gone rabid, Travis.”
“Okay, Pa.”
Bang!
Would have left an entire generation unscarred.
by Stephen Blackmoore on November 12th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
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Loved The Black Stallion series. Hated all those sad, tear-jerker animal books, though. Come to think of it, I’m not fond of tear-jerker books of any variety. I’m into light and fluffy, please and thank you. Or at least give me a good murder. 
by Tori Lennox on November 12th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
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I read everything that Albert Payson Terhune wrote about the various dogs around Sunnybank Kennels, along with Old Yeller, Little Britches and many others that I don’t recall offhand. Of course, since I predate television, there were late nights by the radio (turned low so parents wouldn’t hear) that had such highlights as “Tarzan and the LiPaGor” (which today would never be heard because we know enough genetics to render a LiPaGor impossible.) There were many others, some of which robbed me of sleep.
We didn’t get a TeeVee until Mickey Mouse signed Annette - and we spent the next few years watching her …mature… (so I’m a guy!) My favorite cartoon animals were the ones in Song of the South, although some of the early Tom & Jerry cartoons were mostly OK I guess.
I wrote a few cat-related stories when I was much younger since I’m more of a cat person, but that was a long time ago, and they can’t be found any more.
My kids grew up with real animals in the house, mostly cats, although the odd hamster, snake, turtle and others intruded from time to time, and I guess that once they learned just how dumb the animals really were, they lost interest in the imaginary talking kind.
by Bob Rudolph on November 12th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
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Would have left an entire generation unscarred.
Stephen, you really are a HARD man.:o
by Diana Killian on November 13th, 2007 at 9:10 am
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Tori, I’m with you, although I admit I haven’t advanced to the point where I can accept sleuthing cats unless they’re in a book with bright illustrations and very large font.
by Diana Killian on November 13th, 2007 at 9:11 am
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Hey, Bob, you just reminded me of the Dr. Doolittle series. That was a very fascinating bunch of books as I recall — and bore about zero resemblance to the movie.
by Diana Killian on November 13th, 2007 at 9:12 am
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Diana, you’re right - I guess that Dr. Doolittle was more or less the Harry Potter of that day & age.
by Bob Rudolph on November 13th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
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I loved animal stories when I was young, but now? I can’t, and I mean I really can’t watch them. I cry at the previews!
Now a good shoot-’em-up action flick is fine by me, and I have no problem with blood and gore (although I will look away now and then).
But when it comes to animal stories? I’m a bawling heartbroken baby.
by spyscribbler on November 13th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
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But when it comes to animal stories? I’m a bawling heartbroken baby.
I know! What the heck IS it about animal stories? Why is everything so much sadder with animals? It’s not like I care more about animals than people; I’m not one of those looney people who won’t finish a mystery if a cat or a dog buys it. And yet I can’t handle animal stories. I can’t even handle watching TCM ads for films like The Yearling.
by Diana Killian on November 14th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
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