Animal Fiction | Downers Grove Public Library

1) The Compton cowboys: and the fight to save their horse ranch

Author

Thompson-Hernández, Walter

Description

The Compton Cowboys are a group who grew up in the city where Kendrick Lamar and Serena Williams were raised; a city portrayed in the media as ground zero for gang violence. But in 1988, with the creation of the Compton Junior Posse, a youth program set on a horse ranch in the middle of Compton, these men and women found a safe space. In this young readers' edition, kids will witness how the Cowboys' lives were shaped by harsh realities. The Cowboys...

2) Daisy to the rescue: true stories of daring dogs, paramedic parrots, and other animal heroes

Author

Campbell, Jeff, 1964-

Description

Collects over fifty true stories of heroic animals rescuing people, including a pot-bellied pig, parrot, dolphin, and half-breed wolf, with current scientific research about the human-animal bond.

3) Snowman: the true story of a champion

Author

Description

Shares the story of how a plow horse about to go to slaughter became a champion show jumper and the winner of the 1958 show jumping Triple Crown.

4) No better friend: a man, a dog, and their incredible true story of friendship and survival in World War II

Author

Weintraub, Robert

Description

Tells the incredible true story of Frank Williams, a radarman in Britain's Royal Air Force, and Judy, a purebred pointer, who met as prisoners of war during World War II. Judy, who became the war's only official canine POW, was a fiercely loyal dog who sensed danger-warning her fellow prisoners of imminent attacks and, later, protecting them from brutal beatings. Frank and Judy's friendship, an unbreakable bond forged in the worst circumstances, is...

5) Watership down

Author

Adams, Richard, 1920-2016

Series

Watership Down volume 1

Description

Richard Adams's Watership Down is a timeless classic and one of the most beloved novels of all time. Set in the Hampshire Downs in Southern England, an idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of "suspense, hot pursuit, and derring-do" (Chicago Tribune) follows a band of rabbits in flight from the incursion of man and the destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of brothers, they travel forth from their native Sandleford warren through...

6) The one and only Ivan

Author

Applegate, Katherine

Series

One and only series volume 1
The One and Only Ivan
One and Only volume 1

Description

Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all. Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he's seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or...

7) Saving Zasha

Author

Barrow, Randi G

Description

In 1945 Russia, those who own German shepherds are considered traitors, but thirteen-year-old Mikhail and his family are determined to keep the dog a dying man brought them, while his classmate Katia strives to learn his secret.

8) Journey of the pale bear

Author

Fletcher, Susan, 1951-

Description

Twelve-year-old Arthur forms a bond with a polar bear given by King Haakon IV of Norway to King Henry III of England in 1252 while traveling as her handler. Includes historical notes.

9) The goose girl

Author

Series

Books of Bayern volume 1

Description

On her way to marry a prince she's never met, Princess Anidori is betrayed by her guards and her lady-in-waiting and must become a goose girl to survive until she can reveal her true identity and reclaim the crown that is rightfully hers.

10) White stallion of Lipizza

Author

Henry, Marguerite, 1902-1997

Description

A baker's son, who dreams of becoming a riding master at Vienna's Spanish Court Riding School, is admitted as an apprentice and achieves his desire under the tutelage of both two-legged and four-legged masters.

Author

Series

Redwall series volume 1
Redwall

Description

When the peaceful life of ancient Redwall Abbey is shattered by the arrival of the evil rat Cluny and his villainous hordes, Matthias, a young mouse, determines to find the legendary sword of Martin the Warrior which, he is convinced, will help Redwall's inhabitants destroy the enemy.

Author

Johnson, Terry Lynn

Description

In this survival story set in Alaska, fourteen-year-old Vicky and her dog sled team find an injured sledder in the wilderness.

Author

Johnson, Terry Lynn

Description

Ever since her vision started deteriorating, fourteen-year-old McKenna Barney has felt out of place in the world. Out of place at home and at school and even on the trail with her dogs. Now, to help her younger sister with her own ongoing battle with an eye disease, McKenna finds herself at the head of a team of eight sled dogs in a race she's not sure she can even see, let alone win. For three days of shifting lake ice, sudden owl attacks, bitterly...

14) Falcon wild

Author

Johnson, Terry Lynn

Description

"Thirteen-year-old Karma lives with her family at their raptor conservation center in Montana. When she has to take her beloved bird, Stark, the gyrfalcon she rescued, back to its owner, she's sorely disappointed. But things get worse when a car accident leaves her father and brother trapped. It's up to Karma--and a runaway boy named Cooper who ends up by her side--to survive the wilderness and find a way to rescue them"-- Provided by publisher.

15) Cracker!: the best dog in Vietnam

Author

Kadohata, Cynthia

Description

A young soldier in Vietnam bonds with his bomb-sniffing dog.

16) Song for a whale

Author

Series

Thorndike Press large print striving reader collection

Description

"From fixing the class computer to repairing old radios, twelve-year-old Iris is a tech genius. But she's the only deaf person in her school, so people often treat her like she's not very smart. If you've ever felt like no one was listening to you, then you know how hard that can be. When she learns about Blue 55, a real whale who is unable to speak to other whales, Iris understands how he must feel. Then she has an idea: she should invent a way to...

17) The call of the wild

Author

London, Jack, 1876-1916

Series

Puffin classics
Scholastic classics
Whole story
More Series...

Description

"The Call of the Wild is a novel by Jack London published in 1903. The story is set in the Yukon during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush--a period when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The novel's central character is a dog named Buck, a domesticated dog living at a ranch in the Santa Clara valley of California as the story opens. Stolen from his home and sold into the brutal existence of an Alaskan sled dog, he reverts to atavistic traits. Buck...

18) Clarice the brave

Author

Description

When they are separated at sea, mouse siblings Clarice and Charles Sebastian, who were taught to be careful, must now need to be bold if they are to survive--and keep their promise to find one another again.

19) Touching Spirit Bear

Author

Mikaelsen, Ben, 1952-

Series

Spirit Bear
Spirit Bear series
Thorndike Press large print mini-collections

Description

After his anger erupts into violence, Cole, in order to avoid going to prison, agrees to participate in a sentencing alternative based on the native American Circle Justice, and he is sent to a remote Alaskan Island where an encounter with a huge Spirit Bear changes his life. This gripping, graphic survival story from an award-winning writer paints an unsparing picture of one violent teen and offers a poignant testimony to the power of pain that can...

20) Island of the Blue Dolphins

Author

O'Dell, Scott, 1898-1989

Series

Island of the Blue Dolphins
Laurel-leaf books
Laurel-leaf Newberry
More Series...

Description

Left alone by her Indian tribe when they decide to sail to the east, Karana, a young Indian girl, lives on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, where she spends eighteen years, surviving through her enormous courage and self-reliance. Year after year she waits for the ship to return but it never does. Finally she realizes she must make a fateful choice: follow her people on her own or remain alone for the rest of her life....