Animaliterature: From Ungulates To Two-legged Animals
The Mammal Guide of Southern Africa by Burger Cilli
Tattered, battered and well thumbed, Cillis guide to mammals from herbivores to carnivores to very large ones has been a must-pack on my holiday reading list since I was six. Given to me by my mum who did ask if Id like to exchange it for an Afrikaans copy I was oddly resistant the guide nourished my deep interest in mammals, taught me how to pronounce ungulates I initially took some, ahem, liberties and stood me in good stead at a trivia night in Melville, where I casual flex was the only participant to know that a leopards scientific name is Panthera pardus. Well spotted or what?!
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear
A nonsense poem which left me wishing that I could join the elegant fowl and beautiful pussy you are, you are! A beautiful pussy you are! as they go to sea in a pea-green boat, sailing away - for a year and a day - to the land where the Bong Tree grows, getting married for too long they have tarried!, by a Piggy-wig with a ring at the end of his nose, dining on mince and slices of quince, eaten by a runcible spoon, followed by dancing in the moon. Swoon, swoon...
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George