Unrealistic Representations of Animals in Children's Literature

Marla V. Anderson and Antonia J. Z. Henderson:

Pernicious Portrayals:The Impact of Children’s Attachment to Animals of Fiction on Animals of Fact

http://www.animalsandsociety.org/assets/library/566_s1342.pdf

This paper argues how the misrepresentations of animals in children's literature is detrimental and is carried with us into our adult lives. The misrepresentation of animals is shown to affect our relationships and views of companion animals, wild animals, and animals to be experimented on.  For example, having a specific childhood character pet can be detrimental to people's interactions with real companion animals; they have an unrealistic image of the perfect pet and when their real pet doesn't fulfill those qualities, they animal could be abandoned, put up for adoption, and possibly end up euthanized. Other examples of unrealistic qualities that we cling to and affect our future judgements are introduced and discussed in this paper.