(Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish. Want to make your own list? Clicking the image will take you to this week’s post. Happy listing!)
This week it’s all about genres, and after perusing my shelves I’ve decided to dedicate this list to animal books. Because they’re all so cute (or at least entertaining)!
1. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) – I love Dickon and his little animal entourage.
2. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White) – Wilbur! And sweet, lovely Charlotte. I even love Templeton.
3. Anything by James Herriot – The nom de plume for veterinary surgeon Alfred Wright, who practiced in the rural English countryside in the 1940s and beyond. Sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, his stories of taking care of everything from rabbits to dogs to horses and cows were some of my favorite books to read during childhood.
4. Deerskin (Robin McKinley) – Deerskin goes through so much, and it is her dog, Ash, who keeps her going. Beautiful, if painful, story.
5. Hurt Go Happy (Ginny Rorby) – I love Sukari.
6. The Last Unicorn (Peter S. Beagle) – Poor unicorn. An amazing story.
7. The Ugly Dachshund (G.B. Stern) – I fell instantly in love with Tono, the Great Dane who thinks he’s a Dachshund.
8. The Avocado Drive Zoo (Earl Hamner) – A story about a man whose home is overrun by zany animals. Including, for a brief time, an alligator who takes up residence in the bathtub.
9. The Halfblood Chronicles (Andres Norton and Mercedes Lackey) – Badass dragons.
10. “Simon’s Cat” – Okay, so not a book. But so perfect a characterization. See for yourself:
What are your favorite animal books? Your favorite genre?
