Three Humorous Animal Stories

Angus and Sadie by Cynthia Voight.  A young couple run a small family farm with two cows, two barn cats, a house cat, and a small flock of sheep.  One winter they decide that they want to get a dog.  They do some research and decide a border collie would be a good fit for them.  The next spring, they go to the animal shelter to pick out a puppy.  As it happens, there is a litter of border collie mix pups there.  Mister chooses a big, bold, black-and-white male while Missus chooses a small, shy, red-and-white female.  They end up adopting both and name the male Angus and the female Sadie.  The story describes the puppies as the grow, learn about the farm, and go through training.  The puppies’ misunderstandings of the human world and words are delightfully entertaining, especially for anyone who has had a dog (or a child).  Not only is it a fun story, but there are some deep lessons to be learned as well: such as accepting others as they are and appreciating their differences, overcoming your fears, and celebrating the accomplishments of others.  The lessons are not spelled out explicitly in the story, but they are quite clear to the discerning reader. This is one of my favorite books; it can be a fun read-aloud for younger children and can be used to spark some deeper conversations with older children about how we should treat one another.

Young Fredle by Cynthia Voight.  This takes place on the same farm as Angus and Sadie, but this time it’s about a young house mouse who finds himself in the great big scary outside world.  Through a variety of adventures, he learns that there is a whole lot more to the world than what the house mice have always known.  Gentle Sadie shows up in this story and welcomes the mouse as a friend.  Again, like its predecessor Angus and Sadie, this story has some wonderful lessons about overcoming prejudices toward those who aren’t exactly like you and learning to appreciate their differences.  Another fun book to read-aloud to the kids and to let them enjoy reading on their own over and over again.  I found this book at the library, but thought it was worth having a copy of our own so that the kids can read it anytime they want.

Audrey: Cow by Dan Bar-el  One of my kids found this at the library and I read it after they were done with it.  It was inspired by the true story of a cow who escaped from a slaughterhouse and evaded capture for more than a week.  When she was finally caught, she was spared and sent to a sanctuary farm.  This story is told by the various animals on the farm and in the forest as if they are speaking to a reporter, each interjecting their own side of the story.  Audrey grows up loving her life on Bittersweet Farm, making friends with one of the dogs and the farmer’s little girl.  One day she finds out that there are different kinds of cows: some are dairy cows who stay at the farm their entire lives, others are NOT dairy cows and periodically disappear on a big red truck never to be seen again.  To her great dismay, Audrey finds out that she is NOT a dairy cow and is destined to one day take a ride on that fateful red truck. With encouragement from her mother, she begins to plot and plan a way to escape when that time comes.  The farm animals help, and after she makes good on her escape, the forest animals help her hid from her pursuers for more than a week.  It’s a humorous story as the author explores the world through the eyes of the farm animals.  I’d recommend this book for ages 10 and up, as some the concepts or jokes may be too difficult for younger ones to get.

Historical Fiction for Children

I think one of my favorite genres of literature is historical fiction.  The combination of a good story with true events and people make the history more fun and more memorable.

Here are 3 series of historical fiction books geared toward children (but fun for adults too) that we have been enjoying recently.



"Horse Diaries" by various authors.  There are currently 15 books in this series.  We've read 12 of them - 11 from our library, and one that I found used.  (When the last 3 get old enough to get on the used book market for a reasonable price, I'll try to snag them too.)  Each book tells a story of a different historical event or time period from the horse's point of view.  They are well written, informative, and just plain fun to read.  Especially for the horse lovers in my family.  Each book also contains an appendix with extra information about the historical event or time period and the breed of horse featured in the story.  These books make learning history fun and painless for kids!





"Dog Diaries" by Kate Klimo.  There are currently 12 books in this series, with #13 to be released in December this year.  We have read 9 of them, as that is all our library currently has.  Just like the Horse Diaries, each book tells the story of a different breed of dog, often a famous historical dog.  Again, well written, informative and fun to read.  At least of couple of them are written in present tense which kind of bugs me, but otherwise they are good reading.  Both series are clean -- no bad language or inappropriate content, no overly graphic descriptions of war, pain, or suffering (though those topics are dealt with, they are not too graphic or gross).  I also like the way they promote responsible pet ownership and understanding of various breeds of dogs.





"Imagination Station" by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker (though some other names appear on some books, one of these two is always on it).  Two cousins get transported back in time through Mr. Whitaker's Imagination Station.  They have adventures in various historical periods and events, but never change history.  These are kind of like the Magic Treehouse books, but better (in my opinion).  I think they are better written, and they don't contain any of the hocus-pocus magic that is in some of the Magic Treehouse books.  We currently have 18 or 19 of the 21 books in this series and the kids devour them.  Warning: many of them end with cliff-hangers, and the story is continued in the next book in the series!  A number of the events are from Bible history, some are about Christian missionaries.  All are written from a Christian perspective and worldview.