Big Fur Secret (1944) by Margaret Wise Brown

Authors

Maughn Gregory, Independent ScholarFollow

Files

Description

This little-known book by Margaret Wise Brown follows a boy as he watches animals in a zoo, first just observing, then having fantasies about them: of putting squirrels in his pocket, lying down beside the panda, hugging the polar bear. But he always interrupts his fantasy: the squirrel wouldn’t like to be put in a pocket; he knows better than to lie down next to a panda or to hug a polar bear. The Big Fur Secret is importantly about animals, and about zoos, and about the ways people integrate defenseless beings into their projects and plots. But it is also about consciousness in a more general way: it encourages the reader (or listener) to stop short of speaking for somebody (or something) else – to hold on to the idea that how it is for us may be quite different from how it is for them.

Publication Date

2024

Publisher

Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children

City

Montclair

Keywords

animals, zoos, picture books, Margaret Wise Brown, philosophy for children

Disciplines

Early Childhood Education | Education | Philosophy

Recommended Citation

Gregory, Maughn, "Big Fur Secret (1944) by Margaret Wise Brown" (2024). Picture Books. 19.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/iapc_thinkingstories_picturebooks/19