Why the Wild Things Are : Animals in the Lives of Children / Gail F. Melson.
2005
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Details
Title
Why the Wild Things Are : Animals in the Lives of Children / Gail F. Melson.
Author
Melson, Gail F., author.
ISBN
9780674040922
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2005]
Copyright
©2005
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (256 p.)
Other Standard Identifiers
10.4159/9780674040922 doi
Alternate Call Number
CQ 6000
Dewey Decimal Classification
636.088/7/019
Summary
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.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 01. Dez 2022)
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Online Access
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Online Resources > Ebooks
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CONTENTS
Introduction
1. Animals and the Study of Children
2. Reaching across the Divide
3. Love on Four Legs
4. Learning from Animals
5. The Healing Lick
6. Animal Selves
7. Victims and Objects
8. Deepening the Animal Connection
NOTES
INDEX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CONTENTS
Introduction
1. Animals and the Study of Children
2. Reaching across the Divide
3. Love on Four Legs
4. Learning from Animals
5. The Healing Lick
6. Animal Selves
7. Victims and Objects
8. Deepening the Animal Connection
NOTES
INDEX