Becoming Familiar: Witches and Companion Animals in Harry Potter and His Dark Materials

Citation

Ezra E (2019) Becoming Familiar: Witches and Companion Animals in Harry Potter and His Dark Materials [Ezra Becoming Familiar Children's Literature]. Children's Literature, 47 (1), pp. 175-196. https://doi.org/10.1353/chl.2019.0009

Abstract
This essay reads the relationship between witches and their companion animals in Harry Potter (specifically, cats) and His Dark Materials (birds) as allegories of social relations based, respectively, on identification and alterity. The ethical implications of these allegories are considered in the context of these works and beyond.

Keywords
children's literature; witches; animals; ethics

Journal
Children's Literature: Volume 47, Issue 1

• Ezra Becoming Familiar Children's Literature