Warts and All

Do anthropomorphic animals affect children’s understanding of nature?

In February 2020, Simon and Schuster published the children’s picture book Being Frog by April Pulley Sayre. However, there was something about this picture book that was different. Instead of soft, beautifully drawn illustrations it had vibrant, close-up photographs of real frogs. The photos were taken by Sayre herself, who is a biologist with a passion for nature, and are a far cry from the round green drawings of frogs in most children’s picture books. These frogs are wet, slimy, alien-eyed, and not smiling. These are not human characters disguised as frogs. They are frogs.

Anthropomorphic animals, who walk, talk and behave like humans have been a staple in children’s literature for centuries, from Aesop’s Fables to The Wind in the Willows to Elmer the Patchwork Elephant. These colourful animal characters were most likely born from a desire to explore the natural world while teaching a moral message at the same time. Yet, have these cartoonish creatures been damaging children’s ability to perceive the reality of nature?

A Canadian study in 2014 found that pre-school aged children who were exposed to picture books with anthropomorphised animals were more likely to describe real life animals as having human emotions and social interactions. For example, they would agree when asked whether the real-life animals had friends or felt proud. Furthermore, the study found that it was not simply the illustrations that caused this effect but that the language was critical. When presented with true to life illustrations of animals but narrated with anthropomorphic language, for example describing the animals as talking to each other or feeling emotions, the children would still anthropomorphise the real-life animals. Additionally, the study found that children were less likely to learn facts from books that were anthropomorphic, theorising that the disconnect from reality led young children to assume that the world of the story and our world are different.

The study concluded that:

“Books that do not present animals and their environments accurately from a biological perspective may not only lead to less learning but also influence children to adopt a human-centered view of the natural world.”

This human-centred view is a growing problem as the impact and scale of climate change becomes apparent. While it may seem that portraying animals as empathetic human-like creatures would create greater interest in them, it may be causing children to not understand the biology of the world around them. A 2020 study found that only 66% of Britons believe climate change to be as significant a threat as the Covid-19 pandemic. Would this number be higher if there was a greater understanding of the science behind nature? And while programs like BBC’s Blue Planet have been praised for the ‘Attenborough Effect’ where anthropomorphic narration compels viewers to empathise with the impact of climate change and pollution, is there an argument that this only reinforces this human centric view of nature? Do we only care about animals if we believe that they share human feelings of anxiety, grief and trauma? Shouldn’t we value animals just as they are?

The aim of Being Frog is to encourage children to appreciate and respect nature even when it is not cute and cuddly and human. The book explores and introduces the complicated, unfamiliar nature of wild animals to developing minds.

“Does it ponder?
We don’t yet know.

Does frog time fly?
Or trail snail-slow?”

The final stanza brings home the message. We can be different from animals and not know anything about the way that they perceive the world, but they deserve our respect.

“Waiting. Watching.
Scanning. Seeing.

A frog has a life.

A frog is a being.”

Bibliography

Flood, A., 2017. Children’s books with humans have greater moral impact than animals, study finds. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/01/only-childrens-books-with-humans-have-moral-impact-study-finds> [Accessed 10 February 2021].

Ganea, P., Canfield, C., Simons-Ghafari, K. and Chou, T., 2014. Do cavies talk? The effect of anthropomorphic picture books on children’s knowledge about animals. Frontiers in Psychology, 5.

PublishersWeekly.com. 2020. Children’s Book Review: Being Frog by April Pulley Sayre. Beach Lane, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978–1–5344–2881–2. [online] Available at: <https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-5344-2881-2> [Accessed 10 February 2021].

Smith, J., 2019. Instilling Wonder: Talking Science Writing with April Pulley Sayre, By Julia Smith. | Booklist Online. [online] Booklistonline.com. Available at: <https://www.booklistonline.com/Instilling-Wonder-Talking-Science-Writing-with-April-Pulley-Sayre/pid=9728694?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1> [Accessed 10 February 2021].