When animals
take centrestage
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WORDS: MOSHITA PRAJAPATITHE TALE OF
DESPEREAUX
By Kate DiCamillo
This is a tale about
a princess and a knight.
But there is a twist, like
there is in all tales of yore.
The knight here is a mouse by
the name of Despereaux. He has
unusually large ears that help him
appreciate music and he is
particularly fond of tales where
the knight rescues and falls in love with
a princess. When his friend, the very
human Princess Pea, is kidnapped,
he puts on his armour, and soldiers on to
rescue his princess, while battling enemies
and friends who are foes in hiding.FANTASTIC MR FOX
By Roald Dahl
Mr Fox is a clever little fellow. Along with Mrs
Fox and their four baby foxes, they live near
a 300-year-old tree on a hilltop near farms.
Food comes on, the table by snatching
the livestock from the farms of Boggis,
Bean and Bunce, who are mean, cruel
and dim-witted farmers. Tired of the constant
thievery of their livestock, the farmers set
a trap to capture Mr Fox alive, but manage to
just tear off his tail. In hot pursuit to capture
him, the trio excavate mounds of dirt and mud,
flattening the hillside in the process, and set
up a constant vigil to force him out by
starvation. Unperturbed by their efforts,
Mr Fox hatches a cunning plan to steal food
along with other underground creatures, who,
too, have been forced to starve due to the
actions of Mr Fox. In the end, a veritable and
delectable buffet of food and cider is ready to
eat for the animals. As for the three farmers,
they are still waiting by the foxhole.PADDINGTON BEAR
By Michael Bond
The first bear on our list
arrived at Paddington
Station in London from the
deepest, darkest areas of
Peru. Wearing a blue duffel
coat, a red hat and carrying
a battered suitcase, Paddington
is lost until the kind Brown family
finds the note tied to his coat, reading,
‘Please look after this bear. Thank you’
and temporarily take him to their house.
Polite, kindhearted and with a hard stare
reserved only for those he disapproves of,
Paddington finds himself caught in a series
of mishaps around London, often leading
to hilarious results, before his Aunty Lucy
arrives and takes him in.WINNIE THE POOH
by A A Milne
The second bear on our list is not as lost
as the first. He lives in Hundred Acre Wood,
is naïve, kind-hearted and a simpleton at
heart but, who occasionally surprises his
friends with an unexpected bout of common
sense. He loves ‘hunny’, is a budding poet
and has many friend; Christopher and
Piglet being his closest pals, followed by
Eeyore and Tigger.
Oh, and his name is Pooh.STUART LITTLE
By E B White
Stuart Little, a white mouse, lives in New York with his parents, his
elder brother George, and Snowbell, the family cat. Though little in
size, he has a big heart, and is always up for an adventure.
His biggest adventure comes when his best friend,
Margalo, the family-adopted bird,
disappears from her roost.
Determined to rescue
her, Stuart will not let
the fact that he is
a mouse get in the way
of things, he must bring
his best friend home.Special!
WILDLIFE