Describe a story or book with animals in it

I'd like to talk about Diary of a Cricket, or Dế Mèn phiêu lưu ký, a Vietnamese children's novel by Tô Hoài that was first published in 1941. Almost everyone in my generation knows at least the first chapter, because it's taught in lower secondary school. I first read the whole thing when I was about ten. My mother ran a stationery stall in front of a primary school in Vinh, and on slow afternoons I'd sit behind the counter and read whatever was in stock. That copy had a torn cover, so she couldn't sell it. Every character is an insect or a small animal. The hero is Mèn, a young cricket who's strong, good-looking and unbearably pleased with himself. There's also his weak neighbour Choắt, a pair of mantises, some frogs, and a bad-tempered bird. In the famous opening, Mèn teases the bird for fun and then hides in his burrow, and the bird attacks poor Choắt instead. Before he dies, Choắt tells him something like, 'If you go through life being arrogant, sooner or later you'll bring disaster on yourself.' After that Mèn leaves home and travels, and gradually becomes a decent creature. What I felt at ten was mostly shock, because I'd assumed the hero of a children's book couldn't be responsible for someone's death. Rereading it as an adult, I'm impressed by how honest that is. The author doesn't let Mèn off lightly; the guilt follows him through the whole journey. You can also tell the writer spent his childhood lying in the grass, watching insects. It's the book that taught me a story with talking animals can still be completely serious about how people behave.