"Feel good" books about animals

Meri said:
Yeah, it was a very Pratchett kind of kid's book. If you've read some of the other Discworld books, Hogfather especially, one idea that shows up repeatedly is that violence and scary things in kids books bother adults far more than children. Still a great animal book, though.
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It scared me too, but Pratchett makes Maurice fun and skeptical. Philip Pulman's His Dark Materials Trilogy has some lovely animals which are actually kind of keepers of people's souls. The first one especially has some wonderful descriptive passages on the link between the human and their animal companion.
 
Maybe the Girl of the Sea of Cortez, by Peter Benchley. To my knowledge it's the only novel of his in which the sea creature isn't on a blood-thirsty kill-quest for human flesh.
 
Just read "Animals in Translation." Unfortunately, don't have it with me and I don't remember the author's name. Interesting take on our relationship/communication with animals written by a high-functioning autistic, who compares her way of functioning/thinking with that of animals, particuarly cattle and horses.
 
In addition to Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Rudyard Kipling wrote a lot of other animal stories including The Jungle Book (just say no to Disney!) and the whole series of "Just So" stories that explain in fanciful ways how animals received their various physical features.

Cleveland Amory has written numerous books about cats such as The Best Cat Ever and The Cat Who Came for Christmas. Personally, though, I prefer the "Cat Who..." series of mystery books by Lillian Jackson Braun (I hope I'm spelling that right), which pairs Siamese cats with a crusty old journalist. (By the way, her books portray journalists more accurately than any other books, TV shows, or movies I've ever encountered.)

Oh, and please don't discount books like Watership Down or The Wind in the Willows. They're so beautifully crafted that I don't think it's fair to categorize them as children's books. Good literature has no upper age limit.
 
If you don't mind graphic novels, I'd suggest one of the Owly collections. It's all ages, and very dear and sweet. There are also the Serendipity books, which are just plain gorgeous.
 
I loved the Heriot books, too.

The Red Pony by John Steinbeck is a wonderful book.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken was another childhood favorite. My fifth grade teacher read a chapter each day at the end of the day to our class, and we always booed when she came to the end (even though we got to go home). In fact, I may have to pick that one up again.

The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant by Jean De Brunhoff was another book that I adored.
 
Sandy M said:
Just read "Animals in Translation." Unfortunately, don't have it with me and I don't remember the author's name. Interesting take on our relationship/communication with animals written by a high-functioning autistic, who compares her way of functioning/thinking with that of animals, particuarly cattle and horses.
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Temple Grandin is the author. She's terrific, and her insights are very illuminating. I recommend the book to anyone interested in cognitive science and animals. It's non-fiction, and Grandin, PhD, is a Professor of Animal Science in Colorado and an inventor, a two-time best-selling author, featured lecturer, and highly sought after and respected consultant to the meat packing (slaughtering) industry in the US, in particular to McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King (I think). Grandin speaks, and the beef industry listens.

Oh yeah, like you said, she's also autistic.

AS
 
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