Annie and the Wild Animals

Annie and the Wild Animals by Jan Brett

            Picture Book—Fiction

            Grades PreK-3

            Rating: 5 Stars

            Summary: Annie’s cat, Taffy, suddenly disappears and so Annie tries to find a new friend by luring animals with her baked corn cakes. When none of the wild animals are suitable for Annie, the arrival of spring also brings back her cat.

            Jan Brett’s story, Annie and the Wild Animals, describes the beauty of friendship. As Annie longs for a new friend once Taffy has disappeared, her loneliness seeps from the pages of the book. She is going through something that is so innately human in that we need companionship and were made for relationships. Peterson and Eeds (2007) discuss how “symbols exercise an unconscious influence on our interpretations” (p. 57). I definitely found this to be true in the story as Brett uses the dead of winter as a symbol to further emphasize Annie’s desperation that leads her to lure animals with food in order to find a new friend. Winter is a season of cold and harsh conditions that represents isolation between Annie and the rest of the world as she stays inside her cottage. This interpretation of winter forced me to view Annie’s situation as an even more desperate one given the circumstances. The end of the story then brings spring, a season of life and new beginnings. This is also symbolic, as sure enough, Taffy shows up with three kittens just as the snow has melted! As the reader, I felt my spirits warm also with the coming of spring, especially knowing that now Annie has four friends.

            In my future classroom, I could see how this story might be quite popular among girls, given the context of animals and kittens in particular. However, I think boys and girls alike would enjoy this story for its message of life and the importance of having companionship in our lives. At a young age, many children are “friends” with everybody, and it is not until later that children begin to develop deeper relationships with certain friends. As a teacher, I think there is value in discussing what it means to be a good friend. Annie could help start the conversation because she demonstrates that we need friends in our lives to interact with, and that we come to depend on them.