Books, Lists, Memes

10 Favorite Fictional Pets, or Wonderful Bookish Pets!

This week’s theme over at ThatArtsyReaderGirl is bookish pet peeves; my take on it is simply bookish pets, or rather Favorite Fictional Pets!! From childhood favorites to books I read as recently as last year, from imaginary creatures to real-life pets, this list has it all.

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So here is my list of

10 Favorite Fictional Pets

Black Beauty

Name: Black Beauty
Animal: Horse
Book: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (Children’s Fiction)
His Human: Various
Fun Fact: The original/complete title of the book was ‘Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions : the Autobiography of a Horse : Translated from the Original Equine’

Get it here: Amazon

One of my forever favorites, Black Beauty reminds me of this quote from a current read

“Few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later–no matter how many books we read, how many worlds we discover or how much we learn or forget–we will return.“ – From The Shadow of the Wind

Ganesh

Name: Ganesh
Animal: Elephant
Book: The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra (Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation #1) by Vaseem Khan
His Human: Inspector Chopra
Fun Fact: Elephants can recognize themselves!! This puts them in a select set of animals, including humans and dolphins, that have passed the mirror test.

Get it here: Amazon

So Inspector Chopra’s unexpected inheritance – a baby elephant – turns out to be life-changing indeed. Baby Ganesh is sure to keep you smiling throughout this read.

George

Name: George
Animal: Monkey
Book: Curious George books by Margaret and H.A.Rey (Children’s Books)
His Human: Man in the Yellow Hat
Fun Fact: The books have been in continuous print since they were first published in 1941.

Get it here: Amazon

I first fell in love with this naughty, clever, curious monkey when I was watching the TV series based on the books with my kids ages ago (seems like). Falling in love all over again when I read the book was no surprise! George reminds me of every kid (and adult) whose curiosity and need to try out things lands them in, well, unexpected scenarios. I know I have been George many a time, and seen my kids ‘ape’ George often as well, with cool consequences – ranging from the oh-well to the wow-wonderful (sorry for the ape pun!!!)!

Hachiko

Name: Hachi-ko
Animal: An Akita dog
Book: Hachiko Waits: Based on a True Story by Lesléa Newman (illustrated by Machiyo Kodaira)
It’s Human: Professor Ueno
Interesting Fact: After Hachi’s devotion earned nation-wide fame, ko (公) was added as a suffix; and in this instance, the suffix is an honorific meaning “Sir” or “Duke.” (source)

Get it here: Amazon

I first saw the Richard Gere movie (thankfully by myself, as I was weeping buckets towards the end) and more recently, read the book. Hachiko remains a symbol of love, loyalty, and the bond animals and humans share.

Marley

Name: Marley
Animal: A Labrador retriever
Book: Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan
It’s Human: The Grogans
Interesting Fact: Marley was filmed for a two-minute credited appearance in the 1996 movie The Last Home Run.

Get it here: Amazon

Again, this was a movie first, book later kind of thing. But I loved both of them. For those who are looking for Marley’s story for younger readers,

Timmy

Name: Timmy
Animal: Dog
Book: The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton
His Human: George (and the rest of the five too)
Fun Fact: In the book, Timmy is described as a brown mongrel but the TV series ended up using a Welsh collie

Get it here: Amazon

I grew up on a steady diet of Enid Blyton books, and devoured the Famous Five series! Timmy is simply oh-so ‘I wish I had a dog like him’ pet all around – adorable, clever, and fiercely protective. And yes, it helps that he can sniff out secret passages and has a super-powerful-villain-radar!!

Toothless

Name: Toothless
Animal: A Night Fury
Book: How To Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell (Children’s Fiction)
His Human: Hiccup
Fun Fact: The name dragon is derived from the Latin word ‘draconem’ which means ‘huge serpent.’

Get it here: Amazon

My son received this book as a gift from a friend, and this was around the time the first movie was being made from what I can recall. It was also one of the first books both I and my son read at the same time (like in a book club). Toothless is certainly one adorable dragon pet who I would love to have on my side!!!

White Fang

Name: White Fang
Animal: Wolf-dog
Book: White Fang by Jack London
His Human: Various
Interesting Fact: Before it was a book in 1906, the story of White Fang appeared as a series in Outing magazine.

Get it here: Amazon

I first read this book as a young girl in an illustrated comic version, and more recently read the unabridged version. You can find my complete review here. I think White Fang was one of the first animals I admired totally for his pure grit and steadfast loyalty. You can read the illustrated comics version over at the cool wonderful resource that is the Internet Archive – here.

Zing Zing Bar

Name: Zing Zing Bar
Animal: Dog
Book: The Adventures of Zangbo and Zing Zing Bar by Simren Kaur
It’s Human: Zangbo
Fact: This book, and the movie based on it, are set in the beautiful northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

TBH, I have not read the book but I watched the movie when I was in elementary school (so ages ago now!!) The friendship between Zangbo and Zing Zing Bar, and their adventures (I was in a Famous Five phase at the time) made me want a dog of my own, briefly! Looking for this book and movie took me to the Children’s Film Society of India’s website, and I am discovering many more delightful children’s movies (some based on books) there now. (Note that many of these are in various Indian languages – though they are also likely to be subtitled)

‘Maci’ (meaning cat in Bosnian)

Name: _
Animal: Cat
Book: The Cat I Never Named by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess with Laura Sullivan
It’s Humans: The author and her family
Interesting Fact: Marley was filmed for a two-minute credited appearance in the 1996 movie The Last Home Run.

Get it here: Amazon

This appears at the end of this list because this was not really a pet, and not named as well, but at the same time, the cat kind of ‘adopted’ the author’s family. A must-read book that I talk about here.

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images of a pet store and pet owners with their pets. and title says 10 Favorite Fictional Pets, or Wonderful Bookish Pets!

And Now, the End of this Post

Dear reader, have you read any of these books? And do any of these pets make it in your list of favorite pets from books? Your thoughts on them are as always, welcome and needed! Do you have any recommendations for books with pets? Fiction, non-fiction, and all ages recommendations are welcome

14 thoughts on “10 Favorite Fictional Pets, or Wonderful Bookish Pets!

  1. My kids love Curious George and so do I! I find it so entertaining with an important life lesson for our kids. I have been eyeing black beauty for some time now (my daughter loves horses) but I’ve never gotten around to actually grabbing one for her. You just inspired me, so next trip to the bookstore we will get her one.

  2. We used to have a yellow lab so Marley was one of our favorite dogs! I have a few of the Marley children’s books as well. My son really enjoyed reading White Fang in school too!

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