Depiction Of Animals In Children's Literature

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Throughout the years, animals have been used by many authors to portray meaningful storylines for children to read. Children’s books usually treat animals in one of two ways: either the animals represent attributes like love and loyalty yet remaining strictly realistic, in such story, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Black Stallion, or they interact with their fellow animals as how humans interact with each other, in the story, Frog and Toad are Friends, Bread and Jam for Frances. In the novel, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert O’Brien, the two elements described above are incorporated in this story. The animals are seen as caring creatures to one another that interact as human beings towards each other. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is about a family of mice who live in an underground house under a farmer’s land. One of the children mice, named Timothy, is faintly ill. From there on, the story describes and talks about the whirlwind of adventures from Timothy’s mother, Mrs. Frisby. She has to go through great lengths to rescue her children. In the mist of the adventures, Mrs. Frisby finds the explanation of her husband’s death and his past life before being married to her. O’Brien allows children the opportunity to enter other worlds and to experience life from a different point of view as they engage in an active approach in an animal story. He uses animals to describe as humans to help children learn about friendship and caring, and to view life in a different perspective. The Rats of NIMH use of humanized animals to characterize complexity and development, interweave stories, create flashback techniques to vividly portray past events, and to create settings that demonstrates themes, personalities, and conflicts. The animals in the novel are described with humanistic traits so the readers can relate to the characters in a different way and to

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