It is amazing how often animals become beloved characters in classic children's books and even movies. When I came across this page, Famous Literary Pets, by lemonsqueezy, I realized that I had fond memories of many of these four or more legged creatures.
Her page begins with the line, "My first pet was found in a book."
My favorite literary pet growing up was actually a cartoon pet, the infamous beagle Snoopy. I got a kick out of how he seemed to rule everyone else, like most dogs do. As a skater, I loved all of the skating scenes in Charles Schultz' cartoons, and seeing Snoopy gliding across the ice always gave me a laugh.
More recently, I remember my daughter Kelly, and her Babar, the elephant phase. She was totally obsessed with Babar, and elephants in general for a very long time. The thought of an elephant coming to the city and being "civilized" and then going back to teach the other elephants is a little bizarre. Yet this story has endured for more than eighty years.
Besides the memories this page brought up, I was also struck by its well-designed layout. You will not find a lot of written content here, yet what is written is strategic and helps conjure up those memories. Lemonsqueezy uses quotes or short anecdotes to remind us of why we loved these amazing creatures. For most of us, we know these characters already and the quotes trigger happy memories.
Following the quotes, she uses bolded words to highlight links to games, activities, and learning resources for each character and sometimes includes a video. And then, of course, she has links to the books these characters came from.
After the presentation of the literary pets, there is a quiz to test your memory and, finally, a poll so that you can tell the world your favorite. Which is your favorite literary pet?
Thank you for visiting my literary pets lens. I think that snoopy is my favorite too. I was just watching A Charlie Brown Christmas with my family the other night and just had to laugh at that little beagle. What a character he is!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful story. So many favorite 'pets' in our childhood literature. And they become as 'real' to children as "The Velveteen Rabbit" did. It's what makes 'literary pets' magical. Lemonsqueezy did a lovely job bringing the memories of our favorite storytime pets back to us.
ReplyDeleteI think kids relate well to animal characters in books, I know I always did. Yes, Snoopy was special, and I rediscovered another old favourite on the lens, or rather 2 of them: Charlotte the clever spider and Wilbur the lovable pig. I very much enjoyed LemonSqueezy's introductions to the characters and especially the fun quizzes. A great review for a Friday, Kim!
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea for a lens. A few of them I didn't know very well, but my daughter loved Clifford and we had all the books. What I love about these reviews is all the great lenses I get to visit that I may have missed out on. Thanks Kim.
ReplyDeleteAt our house, my kids' favorite stories all seemed to revolve around pets and animals. Curious George for my son and Clifford for my daughter. What great memories this lens brings to mind. Excellent review, as always Kim!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite...The Velveteen Rabbit. Loved that story so much that when I found out that I was expecting my first child I ran to a bookstore and bought the book and read it to my tummy! I now read it to the grandbabies and my guess is someday to the great-grandbabies.
ReplyDeleteWonderful review, Kim and I so enjoyed lemonsqueezey's lens. Such wonderful memories!