I read someplace recently that if a book is about a dog it is likely to be sad and if it is about a chicken it will probably be funny. Do you think there's any merit to this theory? City Dog, Country Frog was sad but it was about a sad dog and a sad frog. I'm not exactly sure where frogs stand on the humor scale. I recently read Interrupting Chicken and that was hilarious but are chickens always funny? What about elephants and pigs - I mean, have you read Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books? They bring me to tears they're so funny. The more I started thinking about this subject, the more I realized there is to think about...why are animals used so often in children's literature? Which animals are used most often, and why? Do certain animals tend to send specific messages or apply to certain themes? Is there any animal that hasn't been covered in children's literature? I mean who would have thought an Aardvark would have his own book or even a television series. Animals clearly serve an important role in our kids' development and I think the subject deserves more thought. I'll keep you posted on what I come up with in the days ahead and I'd love to hear your thoughts too!
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