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