Riot Recommendation: 25 of Your Favorite Stories About Animals!
Thirteen-year-old Abby lives in an unhappy home in the Sierra Nevada foothills. One day, Abby rescues a litter of seven puppies abandoned for dead and leaves them in an abandoned cabin, promising to return the next day. When grieving widower Elliot retreats to the hunting cabin he last visited years ago, he discovers seven puppies and one determined girl with an indomitable heart. As the two become friends, Abby imagines how much better life would be if her mother were married to Elliot instead of her father. Read Seven Perfect Things by Catherine Ryan Hyde.
Imagine cuddling up with a puppy. She’s fluffy, wriggly, and is happily panting puppy breath in your face. Now, imagine that in book form. Granted, it may not be quite as adorable, but the book version comes with a lot fewer responsibilities, and they get to stay puppies forever! If you’re an animal lover, there’s nothing quite like curling up with a book that puts them front and centre. There are no shortage of genres that explore our relationship with other species on Earth, from tear-jerker children’s books (whyyyy?) to fantasy novels with talking horses to cozy mystery series.
That’s why we asked you what animal stories we should be adding to our TBRs! They didn’t have to be about the typical dogs or cats, either. I’m always looking for a good alpaca farmer memoir or lizard-loving YA novel. Here are your recs crawling with all kinds of critters!
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey
Mrs. Murphy Series by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
Mimi Lee Gets a Clue by Jennifer J. Chow
Yasmin the Zookeeper by Saadia Faruq
We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge
The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide
Duncton Wood by William Horwood
Chi’s Sweet Home series by Konami Kanata
Copper by Kazu Kibuishi
The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan
Watchers by Dean Koontz
H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald
Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
The Bees by Laline Paull
Reynard the Fox stories
Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley
I Am A Cat by Natsumi Soseki
Tales from Gorilla Girl and Gorilla Diaries by Ann Southcombe
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
