Animal Fiction for Grades 6-8
This list features recommended novels in which the animals act like real animals. For fantasies about animals, please see the Animal Fantasy list. Additional animal stories may be listed with Classics. All these stories can be found in Youth (Y) Fiction. Click here for a print-friendly version of this list.
| Author | Title | Call Number |
|---|
| Angus | Soldier Dog A young boy survives World War I with the help of his dog. | Y Angus |
| Barrow | Saving Zasha Mikhail and his family brave treason charges to keep their dog Zasha. | Y Barrow |
| Corcoran | Wolf at the Door Living in the shadow of her beautiful and talented younger sister, Lee cares for a wolf pack that needs protection from cattle ranchers. | Y Corcoran |
| George | Julie of the Wolves A thirteen-year-old Inuit girl escaping a forced marriage becomes lost and is befriended by a wolf pack. | Y George |
| Graham | A Boy and His Bear Dickon rescues and befriends a bear cub, saving it from certain death at the hands of bear catchers in Medieval England. | Y Graham |
| Hiaasen | Hoot Roy helps save a colony of owls from a proposed construction site. | Y Hiaasen |
| Hobbs | Bearstone Cloyd calls on Ute traditions to save an elderly rancher and help a bear in danger. | Y Hobbs |
| Kadohata | Cracker!: The Best Dog in Vietnam A young soldier in Vietnam bonds with his bomb-sniffing dog. | Y Kadohata |
| Kimmel | Legend of Ghost Dog Tee investigates tales of ghostly animal that haunts the Alaskan wilderness. | Y Kimmel |
| Koja | Straydog Rachel, a teenaged misfit with a healthy dose of both aptitude and attitude, begins to feel at home volunteering at an animal shelter. | Y Koja |
| Lester | The Snow Pony Prolonged drought has strained Dusty's ranching family to the breaking point, but she finds consolation with her wild and beautiful horse. | Y Lester |
| London | Call of the Wild Stolen from the family with whom he lived as a beloved pet, Buck learns to adapt to new situations. | Y London |
| Napoli | North Inspired by the life of African-American explorer Matthew Henson, Alvin spends a season with a trapper near the Arctic Circle. | Y Napoli |
| Nowra | Into That Forest After surviving a flood and two years among Tasmanian tigers, two girls are rescued and must try to readjust to human life. | Y Nowra |
| O'Brien | Lara's Gift In 1914 Russia, it's rare for a woman to become a kennel steward. But Lara has a special bond with the dogs. | Y O'Brien |
| Paulsen | Dogsong A fourteen-year-old Inuit boy takes a 1400-mile journey by dogsled. | Y Paulsen |
| Paulsen | Road Trip A father and son embark on a road trip to save a homeless border collie. | Y Paulsen |
| Peyton | Blind Beauty Tessa's passion for riding and her love for an ugly horse named Buffoon help her endure an unhappy life with a hateful stepfather. | Y Peyton |
| Pinkwater | Cloud Horse Kate inherits a legacy of understanding and love for the free-spirited cloud horses of Iceland from a beautiful Viking girl. | Y Pinkwater |
| Pyron | The Dogs of Winter Ivan escapes his abusive family in Moscow and finds protection in a pack. | Y Pyron |
| Rawls | Summer of the Monkeys A fourteen-year-old boy finds a tree full of monkeys along an old Ozark River. His grandpa says there is a handsome reward for anyone who can catch them. | Y Rawls |
| Reisfeld | What the Dog Said Grace and her older sister navigate grief from their father's death by training a service dog for the disabled. | Y Reisfeld |
| Smiley | The Georges and the Jewels The first in a series about Abby Lovitt, who lives on a California horse ranch. | Y Smiley |
| St. John | The White Giraffe In this first book in a series, Martine uses courage, intelligence, and a gift for healing to save a rare white giraffe. | Y St. John |
| Taylor | The Hostage Jamie has second thoughts about giving up a killer whale he and his father have captured for reward. | Y Taylor |
| Wallace | Red Dog Living in the rugged, Wyoming mountains in the 1860s, twelve-year-old Adam takes charge of the household during his stepfather's absence. | Y Wallace |
| Wedekind | A Horse of Her Own Jane, who cares for the horses of rich girls at Sunny Acres farm, helps train a beautiful but skittish new horse. | Y Wedekind |
| Young | Finny and the Boy from Horse Mountain With the help of an injured runaway boy, Finny learns how to train the old, neglected horse she's just acquired. | Y Young |
Last Updated: 11/17
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