Animals often play a large role in children’s literature by showing themes, allowing the reader to see the relationship between animals and humans, and by adding an ironic or surprising effect. Four stories that feature animals are The Fish Story, Gombei and the Wild Ducks, Aaron’s Gift, and Lob’s Girl. In The Fish Story, a boy named Ernie is terrible at doing jobs, but he is hired to watch a fish that's dead when he sees it, so he replaces it and the mother approves, ironically. In Gombei and the Wild Ducks, a duck trapper decides to trap a hundred ducks to have his work done for the next 99 days, but ends up transforming into a duck himself. In Aaron’s Gift, a boy named Aaron nurses a pigeon back to health, eventually making it a carrier pigeon that everyone, including a gang leader, wants to see. In Lob’s Girl, a loyal dog comes back from the dead as a ghost to wake up her human owner after a terrible car accident. The three different relationships between animals are friends, such as with an owner and a pet, enemies, which involves predators and prey, and coexistors, which are humans and nature coexisting. Animals are very important to children’s literature, because they help the reader better understand the story.
A very important and also quite common function for animals in children’s literature is to help show the theme. The theme is the central lesson and what the story is attempting to teach us. Animals help show the theme by having actions done to them, allowing us to help see the lesson. In Aaron’s Gift, the animal is a pigeon Aaron has named “Pidge.” After Aaron trains him for carrying messages, Pidge is highly valued. Aaron wants to join a popular gang, but after his mom refuses, he decides to give Pidge to his grandmother for her birthday. But when the gang gets even more popular, he lets them have Pidge. Sadly, the gang betrays Aaron and attempts to burn Pidge, but he escapes. This helps show the theme of liberty, and how freedom is incredibly important for happiness. In Gombei and the Wild Ducks, the ducks turned Gombei into a duck after he tried to kill one hundred ducks. Gombei was being greedy, and the ducks took revenge. This helps show the theme of being greedy has many detrimental consequences. Themes can be expressed in a much clearer way when there are helpful animals that can allow the main character to better show the reader the lesson. One use of animals in children’s literature is as a way to help show the theme.
The most traditional use of animals in children’s literature is in showing the relationship between animals and humans. Animals and humans can be friends, enemies, or even just simply coexisting together. A friendly relationship would be between a person and a pet; enemies would be between a hostile animal and a human; coexistors would be just a person and an animal. In Lob’s Girl, Sandy and Lob were best friends. Sandy had found Lob a while ago, and now they had an amazing relationship as great friends. This is an example of a friend relationship, where Lob and Sandy are friends. Lob was Sandy’s pet. A friend relationship is very common in stories, because it can also help show an important lesson. In Gombei and the Wild Ducks, Gombei used to have a coexistence relationship with the ducks, where he killed one everyday, and that was it, but then he became greedy and lazy, causing the ducks to turn into his enemies. The ducks flew him away, and turned him into a duck. This is an example of a coexisting and a hostile relationship. When animals are used in literature to show a relationship, they can help entertain the reader and create a better understanding of nature.
Animals can also be used to entertain the reader through causing an ironic or surprising effect. An ironic effect would be that someone took measures to prevent an action, but actually helped the action be caused. A surprising effect would be if suddenly something just appeared in front of you, shocking you. In The Fish Story, Jaws, the fish caused an ironic effect. He was dead, and the Bensons had let Ernie take care of him. When Ernie desperately gets a new fish, and replaces it, it turns out Mrs. Benson knew all along, and just didn’t have the time to get a new fish. This is ironic because Ernie was very stressed about Jaws, and lied, but that was actually the right thing to do. This is an ironic effect, because of how he assumed that hiding the fish was wrong, but that was actually a thoughtful thing to do. In Gombei and the Wild Ducks, the ducks captured Gombei and flew him away, turning him into a duck in the process. This is a surprising effect, because it’s very unexpected that he would turn into a duck, or be flown away. Ironic and surprising effects can be very entertaining, and help keep the reader entertained and interested. Animals can be implemented in children’s literature in order to cause a surprising or ironic effect.
Animals are very important for children’s literature because it helps the reader understand the lessons, shows the balance between nature and humans, and adds a literary effect to entertain the reader. Four stories that involve animals are The Fish Story, Gombei and the Wild Ducks, Aaron’s Gift, and Lob’s Girl. These four stories include every single use of animals in children’s literature, such as helping show the moral, showing each of the three relationships between humans and animals which are friends, coexistors, and enemies, and also adding an ironic effect or a surprising one to help make the reader feel more entertained. These stories use animals for a variety of reasons, such as making the theme more clear, creating a relationship between humans and their animal companions, or adding another element for entertainment. They are all very effective at helping the reader enjoy and understand the story. Animals are very important for children’s literature because they can be used to help better the story.
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