Children’s encounters with animals are manifold—but the fact that they may involve violence and cruelty, with children as perpetrators rather than innocents, is rarely addressed. At the same time, there is a growing interdisciplinary awareness of how different forms of violence intersect and resonate with one another. We show for instance, with research from disciplines such as psychology and the social sciences, that child violence against animals must be often seen as a form of avoidance behaviour, an attempt to process trauma or abuse experienced by the child within the family context. With reference to our disciplinary angle of literary studies, we raise the question of how such unsettling depictions affect readers. Drawing on Fritz Breithaupt’s interdisciplinary developed theory of narrative empathy and Wojciech Małecki’s research on the pro-social effects of animal narratives that emphasize violence, the introduction highlights the possibility that scenes of child-animal cruelty may not only disturb, but also provoke ethical reflection and foster empathy across species lines. Based on the research findings of the authors collected in this volume however, we also argue that particularly in repressive societies, the literary representation of animal-child conflicts seem very often operate as a metaphor for systemic legitimation or—conversely—critique. Taken together, these perspectives reveal a multifaceted field of interpretation that invites closer attention to literary depictions of child-animal encounters—often overlooked or deemed marginal. Precisely in these seemingly minor moments, literature reflects larger cultural, ethical, and political dynamics in concentrated form.