Paws and claws at the libraries

The annual summer reading program has begun at all branches of the Newport Beach Public Library. The program encourages children to read throughout the summer, keep a record of the books they read and how much time they spend reading. Prizes are awarded as they track their progress on a game sheet. The more a child reads, the more opportunities for rewards.

The theme of this year’s program is “Paws, Claws, Scales and Tales.” The kids are not restricted to books about animals ? even though some of the most delightful children’s books have animals as the main characters. From the monkeying around of “Curious George” to the public relations ploy of “Charlotte’s Web,” animals have played a very important part in children’s literature.

The basic reason, of course, is that children love animals. Many of these books are written about a completely realistic animal that lives among humans. “Black Beauty,” “Where the Red Fern Grows” and “The Yearling” are classic examples. In these books, the animal is an animal, even if it represents an abstract concept like loyalty, innocence, etc.

But for the younger set, anthropomorphized animals are the cat’s pajamas. (Anthropomorphism is a tongue-twister of a word for giving human characteristics to an animal or an object.) Talking animals are funny. Talking animals in waistcoats and drinking tea are even funnier (see “The Wind in the Willows”).

Animals also offer the illustrator a chance to add imaginative drawings and humorous insights. By asking a child to accept a talking aardvark (“Arthur Makes the Team”) in a human situation, his brain is learning to deal with concepts such as association, irony and analogy.

The main reason, however, that children’s book writers are so drawn to animals as characters is that animals are multicultural, multiethnic and multiracial. A bear is a bear, and a kangaroo is a kangaroo, and all children can recognize and relate to them.

Writers and illustrators often take this personification of animals as neutral characters one step further by making them fantastic creatures that do not exist in the known world. Dr. Seuss’ “Horton Hears a Who” and Maurice Sendak’s classic, “Where the Wild Things Are” make wonderful use of a child’s imaginative powers.

The books we read as children accompany us all our lives. And the illustrations of the best of them are a shared memory. “Angelina Ballerina” is a delightful dancing mouse. Jeremy Fisher is a frog on a lily pad in “The Tale of ? “ And Eeyore is a cynical donkey.

The importance of these children’s books to our culture has even been recognized by the United States Post Office. They recently issued a Picture Book Animals commemorative featuring The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Maisy the mouse, Curious George, Olivia the piglet, Wilbur the pig, Frederick the field mouse, Fox in Socks and one of Sendak’s Wild Things characters.

If you have a child in your home or are acquainted with one, encourage them to sign up to read this summer. The prizes are great, the trip to the library is fun, and a life-long attachment to Mr. Toad or Stuart Little is part of growing up.