I love Doreen Tovey’s cat and donkey books. Right now I am rereading her first, Cats in the Belfry.
I also love Albert Payson Terhune’s collie books, and Golden Dog, by Mary Elwyn Patchett.
Hard to pick one. Here are a few off the top of my head.
Horses: The Golden Horse of Willow Farm - loved this as a kid. The White Stallion of Lipizza by Marguerite Henry. My Horses, My Teachers by Podhajsky.
Cats: Pyewacket about a street of cats who decide to kick out the humans and take possession of the block for themselves. The White Panther by Theodore Waldeck, a marvelous book (but high priced these days) about Ku-Ma the white jaguar who grows up in the Amazon jungle. Making Rounds with Oscar about a nursing home cat who predicts death and the skeptical doctor who sets out to prove it’s all bunk and winds up being converted. It’s really a book about aging and death with dignity. Beautifully written nonfiction.
Dogs: The Lad books. The Great Dane Thor by Walter Farley, his only dog book.
Fictional: Dog book would be Where the Red Fern Grows and Old Yeller, similar growing up stories. Non fictional: The Forgotten Dogs about Michael Vick’s fighting dogs
Cats: Dewey the Library Cat true life book and A Street Cat Named Bob true life
Horse: still love Black Beauty and grew up reading all of the Black Stallion books over and over again
Non fictional: The Eighty Dollar Champion, Seabiscuit, The Horse that God Built (Secretariat) and several on the older race horses like Ruffian and the Australian champion Phar Lap
Cats in the Belfry–hands down! I also love all three of Jeanine McMullen’s Small Country Living series and Josh Pons’ Country Life Diary. And the Thelwell books, of course…
I love the fox hunting series by Rita Mae Brown, but my childhood all time favorite is Bob, Son of Battle. By Alfred Olivant an 1898 novel about Scotland and sheep dogs.
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All of James Herriot’s books!
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Dogs: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Pyewacket http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2973994-pyewacket
dressagetraks- thanks for recommending Making Rounds With Oscar. Aware of the story, but was unaware of the book. It’s now on my list.
Northern Dancer:The Legend and His Legacy by Muriel Lenox
Seabiscuit:An American Legend by Laura Hilenbrand
As a child the novels Bambi:A Life in the Woods and Bambi’s Children
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bambi,_a_Life_in_the_Woods
Incident At Hawk’s Hill by Allen W.Eckert…I read this in grade 5 for a book report.
Lassie Come Home
I loved the Albert Terhune books about collies. I think there was a book of short stories, too. I remember one called Seventh Son that was about a newborn litter of collie pups.
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Definitely! Seriously loved Herriot.
Also the Albert Payson Terhune books.
And NOP’S TRIALS by Donald McCaig. It’s about a sheepdog and trialing. A number of years ago I saw Mr. McCaig at a trial in northern Virginia. Pretty cool.
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Another vote for the James Herriot books.
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Thanks for mentioning Nop’s Trials. Excellent read!
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James Herriot’s story about the obese Pekinese Tricki Woo was one of the first stories I read independently–ever–as a child and I went on to read all of his books. All of his tales are delightful but a reader can tell he has a particularly soft spot for dogs.
I considered becoming a vet because of his books but became a writer instead!
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A book by Roger Caras where he introduces Steakums the cow and talks about animals having, “…places to go, people to see…”. Can’t remember the name. And Where the Red Fern Grows. What a story.
And Seabiscuit!
Is it The Cats of Thistle Hill, Prudence?
Black Beauty, all of the Herriot books, all of the Misty of Chincoteague books and everything by Walter Farley
Watership Down, and a lesser-known book called Solo’s Journey by Joy Smith Aiken, which is sort of a poor man’s Watership Down with cats. Definitely written by someone who understood cats. Similarly, anyone who likes Star Trek novels and cats would probably love Uhura’s Song by Janet Kagan. In it the “cats” are felinoid sentient beings but again, the author’s love for and understanding of cats is apparent.
I wanted to love The Wind in the Willows because my mother did, and I think she was sort of waiting on the edge of her seat for me to fall for it the same way. Never did. I found it creepy. I think I made up for it in the way I fell head over heels for other favorites of hers like the Anne of Green Gables series and The Secret Garden.
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Hay RPM - thanks! Off to find that book.
Yes, these! Especially Lad: A Dog and Great Dod Stories.
My favorite as a child was The Grand Escape by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, a Newberry Prize Medal winner.
