If only animals could talk…
In fact, it doesn’t matter if they can’t talk, because various writers have had the necessary imagination and inspiration to tell interesting and engaging stories through the mouth of animals over the years.
I have compiled a list of books that I have read, and which really impressed me, featuring animals that play an important role in the book plot.
Aesop’s fables
This is perhaps the most popular and widely-read book featuring animals, since these fables actually date back to ancient times.
It is collection of fables where animals, sometimes together with humans, are the main characters.
The fables are presented in simple language, since they are aimed at readers from all backgrounds, with a focus on the moral tone and messages that are conveyed through these fables, which universally apply to all humans at any place and time.
My favorite Aesop’s fable is “The tortoise and the hare”, which describes how the slow, but steady, tortoise managed to win a race with the fast, but procrastinating, hare.
Animal farm
“Animal farm”, by George Orwell, is a seminal book featuring the typical animals that live in a rural farm.
Setting aside the heavily political orientation, messages, and criticism that goes on throughout the book, the way that George Orwell graphically illustrates the different characters of the book through his unique writing style is at level with Aesop’s short and simple, but highly captivating, fables.
Orwell manages to successfully match the characteristics of each animal with the human traits that he wants to criticize, always from a political point of view, in an attempt to expose the weaknesses and failures of a certain political worldview and system.
The one minute manager
“The one minute manager” is a management classic that has been recognized as a popular and useful read to both existing and prospective managers and leaders for decades now.
There is a story in the book featuring a pigeon that a manager wants to train to do a certain thing.
The gist of the story is that the pigeon can only be trained one step at a time, through simple and clear instructions that can result in repeat behavior, in order for the pigeon to be able to finally reach the end “big” goal unfailingly, every single time.
Flight of the buffalo
The “Flight of the buffalo” is another book taken from management literature, and I have included it in this list because of the comparison that it makes between buffaloes and geese.
It sounds really strange; how can these totally different animals be in any way associated with each other?
The author of the book uses the dissimilar approach of these animals to team leadership, in order to highlight how important it is for all team members to be able to alternate in taking a leading role and safely lead other team members to their destination, regardless of any adverse conditions that may affect the team.
To sum up, anthropomorphism, that is, according to Wikipedia, “... the attribution of human traits... to non-human entities”, is a very effective method that writers use to be able to more vividly get their message across to readers.
In this way, writers can better capture the attention of diverse audiences of readers of different ages and backgrounds, thus making their stories more illustrative and digestible.
Sources and further reading:
Anthropomorphism
Top 10 books about intelligent animals
51 Books All Animal Lovers Should Read