Question #14: Furry Friends

[Danine]

What is your favorite animal character within a book?

Thanks for the Question Laurie!

[Silver]

This is a hard one, but I might have to go with either Buck from Call of the Wild, or the Black Stallion from the Black Stallion series

[Mary Todd]

I think Toto in the Oz books. In the books he can talk and he brings a really unmagical point of view when trouble happens.

[Dawn Michelle]

Reepacheep from The Chronicles of Narnia. LOVED him. Totally.

[Shawn]

Hmm I always liked the Island Stallion more than the Black Stallion.

As to the original question: I'm gonna have to think about this one.

[Paula]

Ooooh, good call, Dawn. I'm sort of partial to Beorn from The Hobbit, but I'm not sure he counts since he's a shape-shifter...

[Dini]

Timmy from Enid Blyton's Famous Five books. He's so central to the story that he's even included in the famous five itself!

[Silver]

When I was a kid I use to alwyas dream of having a horse like the Black Stallion

[KrisT]

Rhumpy the Pig is pretty funny in Swine Not? by Jimmy Buffet, can't really say it is a fav but it was fun.

[Tracy]

Yes, Dini, Timmy from the Famous Five series was the best. A great judge of character, a loyal friend to George, he most certainly was part of the gang-- the kids even shared their ices with him!

And how about Ms. Coulter's monkey daemon in the His Dark Materials trilogy? Obviously not a friend to Lyra, but so chilling in its vicious behavior.

[Laurie]

Crookshanks from the HP series. He always knew Scabbers was no good! Or, The Cheshire Cat or any of the other zany animals in Alice's world!

[Tana]

I like the Cat in Jasper Fforde's books.

[Dini]

Laurie, I always thought Crookshanks would be revealed as some sort of Animagus, because he seemed to know and understand a lot of things that an animal couldn't. But maybe that's just a red herring thrown in by Rowling to distract us from the real Animagus in the story... I hope that wasn't a spoiler!

[Laurie]

Re: Crookshanks not being an Animagus in the HP series...I actually kind of really liked the fact that he just turned out to be a cat and nothing more. The sense that things are afoot all around us, magically or otherwise, that we are not in tune to yet every day creatures that we surround ourseleves with in our daily routines can immediately tell. Althought, it would have been cool, too, if he would have turned out to be a long lost relative of Harry's or something like that! :-)

[Molly]

Wilbur from Charlotte's Web.

[Emily]

Although my first thought was "I don't read books with animals as characters", that thought was both uppity and untrue. I loved Fiver and Hazel in Watership Down! And, I'm sure there are others. From Animal Farm perhaps? Or, Time Stops for no Mouse? Or, many countless others.

[Sheila]

I liked Marley and his shannigans in Marley Me.

Enzo the dog in Art Of Racing In The Rain because he was the narrator of the book and knew what humans were saying he just couldn't communicate back.

[Gloria Clark]

Ricki-ticki-tavi, from Rudyard Kipling's "Ricki-ticki-tavi."

[Tayla36]

Do scaley friends count?

I love Fanuilh, the miniature dragon in Daniel Hood's books.

I don't remember the stories all that well, but I think I liked Jack London's White Fang better than Buck.

There is a fantasy series called "The Gandalara Cycle" by Randall Garrett and Vicki Anne Heydron that has large sentient telepathic tiger-like cats, and the main character's friend was named Keeshah. And later in the series was his mate Yayshah and his two cubs Koshah and Yoshah

[Becca]

Roo from Winnie the Pooh although I have been compared to Eeyore...I don't know if that's a good thing or bad?

[Lisa]

Ah, I love Roo, too! But my fav is probably also Toto.

[Neil]

I'm fond of a great many of the murderous critters from Patricia Highsmith's Animal Lover's Book of Beastly Murder but the elephant and the cockroach are particular favorites.

[Silvana]

Bagheera from The Jungle Books.
Buck from The Call of the Wild.
Snowball from Animal Farm.
Polynesia from Doctor Dolittle series.
Reephicheep from the Chronicles of Narnia.

[Molly]

Neil wrote: "I'm fond of a great many of the murderous critters from Patricia Highsmith's Animal Lover's Book of Beastly Murder but the elephant and the cockroach are particular favorites."

Speaking of elephants - how about Rosie from Water for Elephants? She was very heroic.

[Lauren]

Wilbur from Charlotte's Web
Flicka from My Friend Flicka

[Dawn]

BOB FROM PLUM NOVELS

[Persephone]

I loved Jack's bumbler - Oy - from The Dark Tower Series:))

[Tristen]

Snitter from The Plague Dogs (made me cry)
Pigwidgeon from Harry Potter (made me laugh)
There are probably more I love but I can't remember!

[Wendy]

My dog looks like Nana in Peter Pan. I loved the elephant Rosie in Water for Elephants.

[Maria]

Charley ! - Steinbeck's standard poodle in Travels with Charley In Search of America

[Jenn]

I loved the camel in "Rageddy Ann's Adventures - long time ago.
I'm also a fan of Ricki Ticki Tavi, the cats in "Warriors," Baloo in Jungle Book, oh and Gremlins main character, Watership Down is a fav - the bunnys of course. I'm sure there are more I can't think of...

[Melanie]

Church from City of Bones, the cat that belonged to the Lightwoods. It was our dogs name when I was little. He was a collie.

[Carrie]

Pickwick or The Cat formerly known as Cheshire from Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series.

[Jessica]

I'm not sure if this counts or not, but I always liked the daemons in the His Dark Materials series

[Alycia]

I really like Mouse from Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series

[Caitlin]

Gurgi from The Chronicles of Prydain Boxed Set, Eeyore from Winnie-the-Pooh, & all the monsters from Where the Wild Things Are.

[Mrsku]

I love Pantailamon from Northern Lights and Cruickshanks from Harry Potter. My daughter loves piglet because he is honest and good and kind and PINK

[Cam]

It's just got to be for me, The Velveteen Rabbit in The Velveteen Rabbit

[Lex Brisalyn]

Babe from Dick King-Smith's The Sheep-Pig