Vegan Fiction: Animal Voices, Children's Classics

These beloved children's classics give the animals a voice and speak to the idea that children inherently empathize with animals and when they make the connection between the animals they love and the meat on their plates they are repulsed. These characters also help us imagine how animals appreciate and value their lives and experiences. This week, I'm posting recommendations for vegan fiction.

• Charlotte's Web, E.B. White, author, Garth Williams illustrator (1952) — Farm girl Fern realizes that her pig Wilbur is destined for her plate as bacon. To escape his fate, Wilbur must prove his worth and intelligence with the help of a smart writer, Charlotte, a spider.
  
  Quote: "Life in the barn was very good — night and day, winter and summer, spring and fall, dull days and bright days. It was the best place to be, thought Wilbur, this warm delicious cellar, with the garrulous geese, the changing seasons, the heat of the sun, the passage of swallows, the nearness of rats, the sameness of sheep, the love of spiders, the smell of manure, and the glory of everything."
  
  Quote from the author: "I do not like to betray a person or a creature, and I tend to agree with E.M. Forster that in these times the duty of a man, above all else, is to be reliable. It used to be clear to me, slopping a pig, that as far as the pig was concerned I could not be counted on, and this, as I say, troubled me. Anyway, the theme of ‘Charlotte’s Web’ is that a pig shall be saved, and I have an idea that somewhere deep inside me there was a wish to that effect…” via Letters of Note with a hat tip to This Vegan Life
  
  Inspired? Help here: Pigs Peace Sanctuary

• Watership Down, Richard Adams (1972) — No one gives animals a voice like Adams. When their warren is destroyed, a brave group of rabbits seek a new life. 
  
  Quotes: “Animals don't behave like men,' he said. 'If they have to fight, they fight; and if they have to kill they kill. But they don't sit down and set their wits to work to devise ways of spoiling other creatures' lives and hurting them. They have dignity and animality.” 
  
  “The rabbits mingled naturally. They did not talk for talking's sake, in the artificial manner that human beings - and sometimes even their dogs and cats - do. But this did not mean that they were not communicating; merely that they were not communicating by talking.”
  
  Read also: Adams' The Plague Dogs, which appears in tomorrow's post.