Jun 22, 2015

50 Top Novels for Nature and Animal-Loving Kids Aged 9 to 99!

This is a simple list of titles and corresponding authors, of which I’ve personally read (and can highly recommend) at least 40, many more than once, at various stages of my life. I’m sure I will read quite a few again before I’m 99 years old.

For detailed descriptions and reviews, type each title in the search bar at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. And please do let me know if there are any glaring omissions!

  • My Family and Other Animals – Gerald Durrell

  • A Zoo in My Luggage – Gerald Durrell

  • Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White

  • Stuart Little – E.B. White

  • The Trumpet of the Swan – E.B. White

  • The Incredible Journey – Sheila Burnford

  • The Call of the Wild – Jack London

  • White Fang – Jack London

  • The Animals of Farthing Wood – Colin Dann

  • Jennie – Paul Gallico

  • Watership Down – Richard Adams

  • Tarka the Otter – Henry Williamson

  • Old Yeller – Fred Gipson

  • Shiloh – Phyliss Reynolds Naylor

  • Sounder – William H. Armstrong

  • Black Beauty – Anna Sewell

  • The Silver Brumby – Elyne Mitchell

  • The Hundred and One Dalmations – Dodie Smith

  • The Black Stallion – Walter Farley

  • The Yearling – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

  • The Red Pony – John Steinbeck

  • Where the Red Fern Grows – Wilson Rawls

  • Babe the Gallant Pig – Dick King-Smith

  • The Fox Busters – Dick King-Smith

  • Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

  • All Creatures Great and Small – James Herriot (+ sequels)

  • Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH – Robert C O’Brien

  • The Jungle Book – Rudyard Kipling

  • Just So Stories – Rudyard Kipling

  • Animal Farm – George Orwell

  • Born Free: A Lioness of Two Worlds – Joy Adamson (+ sequels)

  • Kine – A.R. Lloyd

  • A Kestrel for a Knave – Barry Hines

  • Bambi – Felix Salten

  • Because of Winn-Dixie – Kate DiCamillo

  • The Tale of Despereaux – Kate DiCamillo

  • Island of the Blue Dolphins – Scott O’Dell

  • James and the Giant Peach – Roald Dahl

  • The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me – Roald Dahl

  • Fantastic Mr Fox – Roald Dahl

  • The Story of Ferdinand – Munro Leaf

  • Winnie the Pooh – A.A. Milne

  • The Butterfly Lion – Michael Morpugo

  • War Horse – Michael Morpugo

  • Duncton Wood – William Horwood

  • Jock of the Bushveld – Percy Fitzpatrick

  • The Velveteen Rabbit – Margery Williams

  • My Friend Flicka – Mary O’Hara

  • The River Singers – Tom Moorhouse

  • Paw Tracks in the Moonlight – Dennis O’Connor