hello all and welcome!!! i dedicate this quest to the animal kingdom! 🐈🐶🦥🐇🦔🐿️🦊🐻🐖🐃🦋🐐🐍🐝🦍🦅🐟🐢🐯🐓🐅🐙🐑🐘🦎🦌🐺🦉🐳🦇🐌🦒🦞🦘🐊🦫🪱

i’m so excited to share “through the eyes of animals” w/ you all!

if you’ve got recommendations i’m all ears!! please comment any suggestions you’ve got on this post, but first check to make sure it matches my criteria! i’d also love any further info or thoughts you have on the book you’re submitting for consideration!

some notes on my criteria:

• books must (obviously) feature animal main characters whose thoughts and experiences guide the story + frame the world. this can be through first or third person narration as long as it’s clear that an animal or multiple animals are the lens through which we’re experiencing the story.
• multiple povs / non-animal povs are okay! as long as the portion of the book told through an animal pov is significant! one or two chapters isn’t really enough - ideally i’d say like i’m looking for at least 30/40% animal pov or higher. if it’s less than that, the animal pov section would have to make quite an impact on the story to be considered!
• talking animals ≠ animal pov. if the animals just talk to people but are not the protagonists or narrators the book won’t be a good fit!
• while there are lots of awesome animal narrators in the realm of children’s literature, i am trying to steer clear of children’s lit and middle grade as much as possible + instead prioritize YA and adult. you’ll see i have a few books on here that are borderline children’s or middle grade, but i’ve included them bc they’ve got some more adult themes and are classics among adults as well!
• i want to have a diverse array of animals represented here! right now, for example, i’ve got a lot of dogs and foxes, so i am more inclined towards adding books that feature other animal povs (feel free to still suggest titles ofc!). similarly, since there is a(n incredible) cat pov quest, i will consider no more books from @ehawley’s awesome quest will be considered to lessen the crossover!! again, please feel free to submit any requests you’d like, no harm no foul if it doesn’t fit and others can use the comments as further reading regardless of if your suggestions ends up in the quest or not!

i will keep this spreadsheet updated with all books that are currently in consideration, and if i choose not to add them i'll put my reasoning on the sheet!! if you have specific reasoning for why you think it’d be a good fit lmk as well!!

Is it really true that the UK didn't teach history on their own slavery in primary or secondary school? I'm a little shocked because I thought British kids would learn about it early on like they do in the US.