Why the Wild Things Are: Animals in the Lives of Children

by Melson

Whether they see themselves as King of the Wild Things or protector of Toto, children live in a world filled with animals--both real and imaginary. From Black Beauty to Barney, animal characters romp through children's books, cartoons, videos, and computer games. As Gail Melson tells us, more than three-quarters of all children in America live with pets and are now more likely to grow up with a pet than with both parents. She explores not only the therapeutic power of pet-owning for children with emotional or physical handicaps but also the ways in which zoo and farm animals, and even certain purple television characters, become confidants or teachers for children--and sometimes, tragically, their victims.

Yet perhaps because animals are ubiquitous, what they really mean to children, for better and for worse, has been unexplored territory. Why the Wild Things Are is the first book to examine children's many connections to animals and to explore their developmental significance. What does it mean that children's earliest dreams are of animals? What is the unique gift that a puppy can give to a boy? Drawing on psychological research, history, and children's media, Why the Wild Things Are explores the growth of the human-animal connection. In chapters on children's emotional ties to their pets, the cognitive challenges of animal contacts, animal symbols as building blocks of the self, and pointless cruelty to animals, Melson shows how children's innate interest in animals is shaped by their families and their social worlds, and may in turn shape the kind of people they will become.

Genres: Animals, Science, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 11, 2001

Reviews

[Darya]

Оглядова праця від дослідника-психолога про те, чому тварини (і реальні, і символічні) важливі для розвитку дитини. Судячи зі вступної частини, це було прямо ледь не відкриття, бо на той момент дослідження були здебільшого про те, що присутність тварин у житті позитивно впливає на психологічний стан людини на старших етапах життя. Важко повірити, що в 2001 році це була така новина, чесно кажучи. З огляду на такий першопрохідницький підхід, тематично все дуже all over the place, принаймні в тому єдиному розділі, який про символічних тварин: тут і про психоаналітичні інтерпретації нічних жахів з участю тварин, і про ігри з іграшковими динозаврами, і про книжки та фільми для дітей.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would love to read an updated version of this book, with all of the studies and new technology that we have today, now that the complicated relationships between animals and children are being more thoroughly studied than they were back when this was published.