For ages nine to ninety-nine
Review Excerpts
Leland James carefully crafts a world with considerable detail that is eloquent and thought provoking from a literal perspective when read critically with the true story in mind; a story that follows the second World War with animals juxtaposed as real-life historical characters, countries, and groups of people. James' use of animal symbolism is both clever and intriguing. Each page is worth a second read, switching between the point of view of a child and that of an adult.
Animal Land teaches a lesson that is valuable for children and adults alike; a perfectly built allegorical fable, Animal Land can grow along with the curious mind of a child, or bring to light a fresh new way that adults can view the atrocities, heroism, and cooperation during a trying time in history.
--Laura Sophia Bennet, Amazon Book Reviews
Poised skillfully between Aesop’s fables and The History of World War II, Leland James’ enchanting allegorical tale relates the story of the war with a cast of cleverly chosen animals playing all the parts. Chamberlain is a possum, Churchill is a badger, the German armies are mutant “crocadogs”, “wolf-things” and “yikes” and the victims of the holocaust are “songbirds”. Brilliantly illustrated by Anne Zimanski, “Animal Land” is a must-read for children from nine to ninety. A page-turning mixture of wonder and horror with a message for our own times proclaimed at its closing by a wise old owl.-
-Johnmichael Simon, chief editor Cyclamens and Swords Publishing.
Click Here for more: http://littleredtree.com/animal-land-an-allegorical-fable/
-Johnmichael Simon, chief editor Cyclamens and Swords Publishing.
Click Here for more: http://littleredtree.com/animal-land-an-allegorical-fable/
Radio Book Shelf Interview