North York Central Library Blog

Hello Everyone,

I'm Not Quite Miss Rumphius and this is the blog for the Children's Department at North York Central Library. Welcome back!

Friendships between animals, especially friendships between different kinds of animals, make up some of the most memorable stories around for children. Sometimes these stories are charming and funny. That's the case with author-illustrator Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad books, a treat for both children who are learning to read and their parents.

Arnold Lobel has a gift for using a minimal number of words for maximum effect. In one story, Frog and Toad encounter a big snake who greets them with two simple words: "Hello lunch." This is what happens next:

It's a scary moment, and a comical one too, perfectly captured in Lobel's words and pictures.

Unlike animals stories for younger children, animal tales for older children are often serious and downright dark. The Underneath by Kathi Appelt is one of those stories, featuring an abused but good-hearted hound named Ranger who befriends the abandoned Mother Cat and her two kittens.

This book is not an easy or light read by any means. However, it is a gripping one: once you enter Ranger's world, you want to find out -- no, you must find out -- how everything will turn out.

Whether they are heartwarming or heart wrenching, stories with animal characters do something very well: they remind us why friends are important. Animal friendships, like human friendships, help make difficult times more bearable. Everything's better when you've got a buddy to share it with.

Those same ideas are also part of this fascinating new book:

 

Written by a senior writer for National Geographic magazine, this book looks at real-life animal friends. They include a lion and a baby antelope, a sled dog and a polar bear, and an owl and a greyhound. For those who wonder if these pairs are for real, there are lots of photos that show the various buddies together, enjoying each other's company.

This is a book that you can read in one sitting or dip into again and again. And like the Frog and Toad books, but in a completely different way, it's a book that both children and adults will enjoy.

At the moment, this book is on order. While you're waiting for it to come in (and you may want to put a hold on it in the meantime -- word is getting out) you can check out some of the stories from Unlikely Friendships in other books here in our department. Just click on the covers to see more:

    

Happy reading and be sure to let me know what your favourite animal story is!

Not Quite Miss Rumphius