Well, I have to agree with Lamar here. Not every novel with talking animals is "in the tradition of 'Watership Down'." The plots of that and the others that I listed are that they are about supposedly "natural" animals, except for the fantasy element that they can communicate and reason among each other; they feature a large group of one animal species above others (there is the seagull in 'Watership Down" but the cast is otherwise all rabbits); they are slightly more intelligent than real animals (the rabbits figure out how to escape down a river on a floating log, and how to lure a vicious dog to attack their enemies); and they have some epic but naturalistic adventure (no fighting with supernaturally evil demons). "Bambi" and the other nature novels by Felix Salten, and the similar novels by Ernest Thompson Seton, lack the last two elements; they are just "slice of life" depictions of real animals. Novels like "The Wind in the Willows" with clothes-wearing animals who live in houses with furniture and are little more than animal-headed humans are not even close. The "large group of one animal species" qualification is why I did not name Colin Dann's "Animals of Farthing Wood" series. Within those guidelines, what novels are there?
Well, I have to agree with Lamar here. Not every novel with talking animals is "in the tradition of 'Watership Down'." The plots of that and the others that I listed are that they are about supposedly "natural" animals, except for the fantasy element that they can communicate and reason among each other; they feature a large group of one animal species above others (there is the seagull in 'Watership Down" but the cast is otherwise all rabbits); they are slightly more intelligent than real animals (the rabbits figure out how to escape down a river on a floating log, and how to lure a vicious dog to attack their enemies); and they have some epic but naturalistic adventure (no fighting with supernaturally evil demons). "Bambi" and the other nature novels by Felix Salten, and the similar novels by Ernest Thompson Seton, lack the last two elements; they are just "slice of life" depictions of real animals. Novels like "The Wind in the Willows" with clothes-wearing animals who live in houses with furniture and are little more than animal-headed humans are not even close. The "large group of one animal species" qualification is why I did not name Colin Dann's "Animals of Farthing Wood" series. Within those guidelines, what novels are there?
Fred Patten