A bear addicted to honey has wonderful adventures in the Hundred-Acre Wood with a piglet, kangaroo, owl and tiger; author A.A. Milne brought "Winnie the Pooh" and his menagerie of friends to life in 1926.
Who could forget the little girl who followed a white rabbit down a hole? Thus begins the most colorful (albeit nonsensical) wanderings of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" and its subsequent sequel "Through the Looking Glass"
In C.S Lewis' epic series "The Chronicles of Narnia," the beloved lion Aslan imparts wisdom to the characters, teaching them the value of friendship and honor. Phillip Pullman demonstrated in "The Golden Compass" that animals, known as daemons or spirit animals, not only guide and teach but protect their charges at all costs. Rudyard Kipling used bears, monkeys and panthers in his "Jungle Book" stories to teach moral lessons.
George Orwell created a barnyard full of rebellious animals to demonstrate the rise of communism in the classic tale "Animal Farm". A widowed mouse rounds up a group of former laboratory rats to help save her home from destruction in Robert C. Obrien's award winning book "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh". Astrid Lindgren's popular character, Pippi Longstocking, lives alone at Villa Villekulla waiting for her pirate father to return from the sea. Her two main companions are a horse and her monkey, Mr. Nielson.
E.B. White uses a dying spider in "Charlotte's Web" and a mouse child living in a human world, "Stuart Little," to tell stories of compassion and friendship. "The Berenstain Bears" offer a family of bears living in a tree house, as a guide to teaching family harmony and cooperation. Beatrix Potter draws on her character "Peter Rabbit" to teach children about consequences.
In some mystery tales, the protagonist uses animals to assist with crime-solving. This small mystery niche has gained a loyal following. Lillian Jackson Braun began "The Cat Who ..." series in 1968. The series introduced audiences to the smart Siamese duo, Koko and Yum Yum, who help their human solve mysteries. Rita Mae Brown has written several whodunit books inspired by her cat Sneaky Pie.