Do You Adore Animal Sidekicks?

I do!

I’m working on a novel where the protagonist has an animal sidekick. The tone is lighthearted, like Lessons in Magic. The female protagonist in that novel also has an animal sidekick.

Lois, the protagonist of The Mage of Motor Avenue series, has a plethora of animal sidekicks, but the two that carry most of the emotional weight of the series are Beyok (a bear) and Rose (a golden retriever).

Animal sidekicks are pretty common in cozy mysteries and of course in children’s literature. I’ve noticed that they also tend to show up in fantasy a lot, as in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series and in older series aimed at adults, like the Vlad Taltos series (Steven Brust) and Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series.

We love our pets and in fantasy, we can let them talk to us the way we wish they could in real life.