Basic Reading: The Hidden Life of Animals

 

Basic reading. A memory collection of books, comics, and magazines I read from elementary (McQueeney) through middle school (Briesemeister). Ranging from very simple to what I would describe as ‘cusp books’, that would lead to more adult reading. They will come in batches; some are representative parts of series. Some we had; some we saw in libraries. Most have appeared on the blog before, but I think arranged here by category and time they can be more illuminating of certain aspects of my childhood.

To revert to the subject of animal books when we were kids, there was more than one genre to be considered. Besides the ‘scientific’ books, there was a subgenre that I can only describe as the ‘exotic pets’ books. In stories like Owls in the Family or Little Rascal or The Biggest Bear, kids would take in wild animals as pets and learn life lessons as they had to deal with the unusual circumstances and adventures that arose. Usually the lesson learned was ‘you have to let them go.’

Just as appealing (if not more so to me) was the subgenre of ‘the secret life of animals’, which inched closer to fantasy if never quite having any magic as an explanation. Here, animals had their own speech and thoughts, and a culture that just flew under the radar of ordinary humans. In this subgenre animals rarely (if ever) wore clothes, and certainly not in front of groups of grown-ups. They did things that people would interpret as ‘irrational behavior.’ Examples of this genre would be One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Cricket in Times Square, and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.  The Thornton W. Burgess books, like Unc’ Billy Possum, were certainly a early examples of this, which expounded animal facts and whimsy in equal doses. I think this subgenre was especially appealing because of the parallel to actual children’s culture, which seemed to fly under the adults’ radar as well; adults would often treat kids as second-class citizens, not fully human yet.

Our Omi (grandmother) had a bird book we enjoyed whenever we visited. Of course, we have no memory of the actual title, but I recently came across a book that is giving me very strong vibes as to its art style and font. It is called Our Amazing Birds, by Robert S. Lemmon and illustrated by Don R. Eckelberry. It doesn’t quite have the dimensions I remember, however. Tantalizing.