Customer Reviews

Wild Animals I Have Known (New Canadian Library)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a reprinting of a book of wonderful stories by Ernest Thompson Seton. But buyer beware. The publisher has excluded all 200 of the author's sketches and drawings that help the stories come alive for both younger and older readers. In addition, the design of the book is amateurish. Type is spread across the page, with extra spaces between paragraphs, nothing like the pleasing style of the original editions. This is a lifeless shadow of an American classic.

I first read this book as a very young reader, almost sixty years ago. Seton's ability to identify with the wildlife he studies,but with a minimum of anthropomorphism or sentimentality, and then write touching, exciting mini-dramas is enhanced by his role as an observer who does not inject himself as a foreign influence in their lives.

I'm buying copies of the hardcover edition for my grandchildren, for this book will be read more than once, and kept for a lifetime. Get it before it goes out of print again. Robert H. Tyrka, Sr. rtyrkasr@chesint.net

Seton Thompson's stories of wild animals and their wonderful ways touch the hearts of young and old. There are no happy endings in this book, because the moral is that animals always die tragic deaths. But if you want to learn the laws of nature and better understand animals and their ways, these accounts of a hunter-trapper will reward you with hours of enchanted stort-telling.

I've read this book way back when I was a kid growing up in Russia. I cried while reading about the pidgeon's fate, was happy when the rabbit was released, filled with respect for Lobo the wolf... It was one of the books that I'll always remember as being one of the greatest collection of stories. The language is simple yet exquisite, and the story flows so smoothly, you can read past midnight and not notice.
Not only that, that book gave me a better understanding of animals - not as we humans tend to humanize animal emotions and actions, but as real animals think and feel. It definitely made me change my perspective on many subjects - my treatment of nature, of animals, even human relationships.
All that when I was in my early teens. All that without any grownup having to "have a talk" with me or me even noticing that I got a "better understanding" of things.

Now that my son is growing up here, I'm getting him his copy of the book, and I'm quite hopeful that it will bring him a lot of enjoyment as well as food for thought.

I read Wild animals i have known by Ernest Thompson.Its a 245 page book fild with short storys about animals.It as A little something for everyone. It has adventure, comody, sadness, and bunnys. Each story has its own characters both human and animal.My favorite story is one intitled Lobo.Its about a wolf traper and his toils with lobo the leader of the neiborhood wolf pack. Each story kept my attention throughout the whole book.I would recomend this book to everyone who likes to read about animals.

Ernest Thompson Seton, the author, is noted for his wildlife sketches illustrating his books, as well as for the books, themselves. "Wild Animals I have Known" should have a couple of hundred pen-and-ink sketches in the page margins, as well as half a dozen complete, full-page drawings. I wanted to buy a hardcover book with all the artwork, so contacted the supplier by e-mail to enquire. The supplier assured me this book was a hardcover, with the artwork. When it arrived (after some weeks, as it had to come from England), it was a hardcover entirely without illustrations. I contacted the supplier to ask about their returns procedure. I got no reply. I contacted Amazon, who credited my account, and no doubt are dealing with the supplier.

My low rating refers to this edition and to the supplier's inaccurate information and non-response to my complaint. The book itself is interesting and informative, and I heartily recommend it. But get an edition with the illustrations. A paperback with illustrations is available.

When I was growing up in Peru I read the animal stories of Ernest T. Seton with enormous pleasure. I read them in my mother tongue, German, without the slightest idea that they were translated, nor did I place them on the map of the world, I just read them as great animal stories!
I was very delighted to see that he is still in print, still in demand, and that now i can share them with my grandchildren!!!

Seton is pretty well known for his observations of crows. How many words they use, for instance, some are in the story. He watched this particular group of crows for many years, a task made easier because of Silverspot's silver spot. Silverspot's group could tell the difference between someone with a folded umbrella and with a gun, behaved quite differently for the difference.

I gave a copy to a friend who hates to read (and does it quite badly) but who has lived in the country for years and enjoys watching crows.

It got read in one sitting.

Might not work for everybody.

A real tear-jerker!All of the animals die a tragic death. The book portrays the brutality and disregard that we humans hold for the natural world. BUT we are doing better these days.

It is so great to be able to get favorite childhood books
to share with friends. Thank you!