Annie and the Wild Animals [Paperback]

Jan Brett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 1990

When Annie's cat disappears, she attempts friendship with a variety of unsuitable woodland animals. The borders of the pages foretell the emergence of spring and the birth of kittens.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The pictures hold countless surprises. Indisputably, this is a work of wonder that deserves highest honors." (Publishers Weekly )

About the Author

With more than thirty million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation's foremost author/illustrators of children's books. Jan lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up. During the summer her family moves to a home in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Paperback
• Publisher: Sandpiper; Pap/Cas edition (April 30, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395539625
• ISBN-13: 978-0395539620
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,051,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jan Brett is the author of the New York Times bestselling Gingerbread Friends, The Three Snow Bears, and The Mitten, as well as many other classics. She lives in Norwell, Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How To Find A New Pet (Not!), December 14, 2003

By 

Joshua Koppel (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Annie and the Wild Animals (Paperback)

In Annie, as in The Mitten and others, Jan Brett tells a fun children's tale while gently showing how a children's actions affect the world around them. Just as the boy in The Mitten winds up scaring all of the animals that then crawl into the mitten, Annie's actions also have wide repercussions.

Annie has a cat. One day she notices the cat does not want to play, but tries to hide in odd places. Annie keeps finding the cat so the cat tries the outdoors. This makes Annie lonely as she wants to have a pet around the house.

She bakes corn muffins to leave outside in the snow to attract a new pet. But Annie gets more than she bargained for as first a giant moose and then a bobcat shows up. Annie makes more muffins and more animals show up.

But eventually the corn meal runs out at the same time as the warm Spring winds begin to blow. Without any muffins, the animals leave and the cat is free to come back. By following the illustrations in the borders, we know what the cat has been up to and what prevented its return.

The only downside of this book (at least in my daughter's eyes) is that there is no mention whatsoever of a parent. Are we to believe that Annie is living at the edge of the woods all by herself? But still, it is a beautiful book and a fun story. A must read for fans of Jan Brett's other books.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of our favorite books, January 29, 2004

By 

Kirk Wattles (Philadelphia, Penna.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Annie and the Wild Animals (Paperback)

Our daughter has enjoyed this book since she was less than a year old. It has wonderful, expressive pictures of animals that come out of the woods to feast on the muffins that Annie puts out. Annie hopes to find an animal to replace her cat that went missing during a snow storm, but none of them is friendly and cuddly as her cat was.

Meanwhile, in the band of graphics around the margin of each page, we see the missing cat, and other animals that are yet to appear in the story. This is an amazing way to show things that may be happening even when we don't "see" them. It gives plenty for the person reading to point out and discuss, or the story may be breezed through when it's one of several that a child wants to hear.

Several story lines are wrapped together in this relatively short book -- the disappearance of Annie's cat and her search for a replacement, the strange behaviour of her cat and its final explanation, the succession of wild beasts that come out of the woods to eat corn muffins (!), and through it all, winter's slow thaw and the eventual arrival of spring. None of it is overplayed; it all just fits together naturally.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lessons about animals, November 18, 2003

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Annie and the Wild Animals (Paperback)

This book tells the story of some valuable lessons that Annie learned about animals. One day, her cat started acting strange. Then it went away. Annie was lonely, so she tried to find herself another pet by attracting wild animals with corn cakes. Indeed, a veritable menagerie of wild animals was soon hanging around her door, including a moose, a wild cat, and a bear. But none of these animals were friendly like Annies cat, and soon the corn meal gave out so she couldnt make any more corn cakes. Just then the cat appeared again, followed by some new kittens. Animal loving children may be fascinated with Annies tale, although some may be a little frightened by the press of wild animals at her door. The illustrations by Brett, as always are intricate and very attractive. The book has about 375 words.