Product Description
Animals in Schools explores important questions in the field of critical animal studies and education by close examination of a wide range of educational situations and classroom activities. How are human animal relations expressed and discussed in school? How do teachers and students develop strategies to handle ethical conflicts arising from the ascribed position of animals as accessible to human control, use, and killing? How do schools deal with topics such as zoos, hunting, and meat consumption? These are questions that have profound implications for education and society. They are graphically described, discussed, and rendered problematic based on detailed ethnographic research and are analyzed by means of a synthesis of perspectives from critical theory, gender, and postcolonial thought.

Animals in Schools makes human animal relations a crucial issue for pedagogical theory and practice. In the various physical and social dimensions of the school environment, a diversity of social representations of animals are produced and reproduced. These representations tell stories about human-animal boundaries and identities and bring to the fore a complex set of questions about domination and subordination, normativity and deviance, rationality and empathy, as well as possibilities of resistance and change. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A MUST READ for any animals lover
There is not much I can add to the glorious reviews of this book that others have already left except to say that I agree with everyone 100%.

This is a MUST read book for any animal lover. In fact, I think those THINKING about adopting an animal should read this too. It shows people how having an animal in your home is not something to be taken lightly. It's a serious life long commitment for both you and the animal.

Please give to your local animal shelter. Donate blankets, towels, sheets, and pillow cases for animals to sleep on so they don't have to sleep on cold concrete. Donate food and cleaning supplies. Donate money. Even better, donate your TIME! Visit your local shelter and offer to take a dog for a walk, or to socialize the cats. There is so much you can do to help out. The first step is to stop by your shelter and ask "What can I do to help?". Even an hour of your time is better then nothing. And if you are truly an animal lover you will make an effort to help out as often as you can.

This is truly a MUST READ book. I think it should be read in school too.

Another great book by the same author is "The Night Before a Dogtown Christmas".

A great way to learn and highly entertaining.
The Best Friends Animal Sanctuary is located in Angel Canyon, (Southern) Utah. This oversized book reads like an interactive bedtime story for children and is utterly delightful. The sanctuary receives around 20,000 tourists each year. This book entertains children and gives a virtual tour of all the animals living on the sanctuary. Since many of the animals living at the sanctuary have been rescued from bad people or are survivors of disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, readers learn how much care goes into helping them. The book helps children understand why some animals are nervous, shy, or scared of humans. It also explains how people can help care for animals.

As children read or listen to the stories, their eyes and imaginations are tantalized with large, colorful photos of animals found on every page. A couple of the back pages tell how kids can help the animals in their area.

***** All-in-all, I found this to be an exceptional book, perfect for any time of the day or night. Though great for bedtime, I believe it would perfect for class time as well. Teachers should seriously consider picking up a copy to determine whether they could fit this in their class schedule. It is well written with simple, easy to understand, words. Best of all, kids will learn from an early age how to act around and care for animals. Kids will read about all types of animals from plucky duckies to bunnies, from cats to dogs, from horses to pigs, and many more. In a word, "Bunnyreffic!" *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

An Animal's BEST FRIEND
I really like this book. It is a wonderful way to educate kids (and adults will enjoy it as well) about love, compassion, and respect for animals.

We need to teach our kids while they are young, to treat animals the way that they themselves would want to be treated.

What we sow in our children today, animals will reap tomorrow.

So if we want to end animal abuse, animal cruelty, animal murder (euthanizing healthy animals) etc, in the future, it will ONLY happen, if we teach our kids TODAY, that animals are living, breathing, feeling, loving, soul-filled children of God, just like we human animals are.

Trust me when I say that getting this gift for your child (or a fellow adult) will be a gift that keeps on giving and giving......because this book is about love, compassion and living in peace with, and taking care of, our animal friends.

[...]

Two paws up!
Animals are a huge part of our society; but, far too often, they are mistreated and cast aside. Luckily, there are sanctuaries across the nation who provide these particular animals with lifelong homes where they can live in peace and harmony with loving caregivers, and fellow animals. Nora Lee Kelsey takes us behind-the-scenes of one of these particular sanctuaries - Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.

Over the years, southern Utah's Best Friends Animal Sanctuary has become one of the biggest animal sanctuaries in the nation. Home to dogs and cats, along with the less typical rabbits, horses, ducks, pigs, sheep, and many more, Best Friends makes a difference in the lives of animals on a daily basis. While many visit the location each year, others don't always have the means or time to make the trip. With Kelsey's LET'S GO VISIT BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SANCTUARY, readers have the opportunity to do just that - from their very own homes!

Laden with gorgeous color photos, LET'S GO VISIT BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SANCTUARY takes readers on a trip to Horse Haven, the Bunny House, Feathered Friends, Cat World, and Dogtown. At each stop, you have the opportunity to meet and greet with some of the residents of each area, learning their likes and dislikes, and glimpsing bits and pieces of what they do on a daily basis. After the trip is said and done, some of the Best Friends residents provide readers with tips on what they can do to help animals - even going so far as including websites you can visit.

I have loved Best Friends Animal Sanctuary ever since I learned about it more than ten years ago, so I was thrilled when I learned that Nora Lee Kelsey had taken the time to pen a gorgeous book about the location. The many pictures bring the animals to life; while the information packed onto each and every page provides the reader with enough facts to become a Best Friends Animal Sanctuary wiz! Perfect for animal lovers to read at home with their families, or as an instructional tool in the classroom, LET'S GO VISIT BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SANCTUARY is a necessity for all. I could not have imagined a more perfect book. Two paws up!

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

WONDERFUL BOOK AND A GREAT TEACHING TOOL.A JOB WELL DONE!
This work hits on a subject that is near and dear to my heart.Animals have played a very important part of my life for over sixty years now and they are just as important to me now as when I received my first puppy when I was about three years old.My wife and I have been very involved with our local humane society for many years now.That being said....

This work takes the reader for an inside look at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary located Southern Utah.Thousands of animals have been helped through this organization and Ms. Kelsey has given us a child's eye view of its workings, mission, needs, and indeed, delights.The book is designed to be read to children, and more specifically, is ideal for groups of children, although it is an absolute delight for the adult reader also.The photographs are quite professionally done and are works of art themselves.The author's easy style, humor and obvious enthusiasm for her subject shine through on ever page.She takes us on a verbal tour, supplemented by wonderful photographs, through this great organization.The author takes great pains in explaining the socialization process of these animals, stressing not only their physical needs, but emotional as well.This is a bit different than some of the works in this genre.We are given a peek at the different areas of this sanctuary, the bird house, horse area, pigs, dogs, cats, et al.Some individual stories of these critters are told as well as the source for many of the animals helped here.

This book is certainly designed for the class room.Its easy reading style and humor will be appreciated by the children.Each page is full of useful information and the photographs are well coordinated.Many questions are asked which are ideal for taking the children into a discussion.The author has also provided pages full of ideas for class projects, given some great web sites for further research, and above all, has infused an enthusiasm into her work which is rather contagious.Volunteerism is stressed here and the point is well made that everyone can do their little share to change what has become almost a national tragedy.Now don't misunderstand that statement.This is not a "sad puppy book," something that I find difficult to read to younger children.Everything here is upbeat and positive while still being quite truthful about the plight of these unwanted animals.

A WORD OF CAUTION:I am retired now and spend most of my days acting as a substitute teacher in local schools.We live in an area, Southern Missouri, which is more or less the puppy mill capital of the known universe.This is something my wife and I have fought for years and years.The author is quite harsh, and well she should be, when addressing this subject.The problem comes, in my case, where I will have a room full of about 25 students, and out of that 25, at least six or seven will have parents or grandparents who make their living as puppy mill owners.I plan to use this work at those schools, but I also plan to do a bit of verbal editing when this portion of the book is read to the students.While they need to know about such things, I am not about to be critical of their parents in front of their fellow students.Goodness knows I have had many heated conversations with the parents of these kids on this subject, indeed having been instrumental in shutting a few down, but don't feel the children should be subjected to the same line as I would give their mom and dad.

That being said, I cannot recommend this work highly enough.It is an absolute wealth of information and a delight to the ear and eye.The author has done a wonderful job here.I do wish there were more organizations out there like Best Friends...we certainly need them.
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Product Description
In Animals as Biotechnology: Ethics, Sustainability and Critical Animal Studies sociologist Richard Twine places the questioning of human/animal relations at the heart of sustainability and climate change debates.This book is shaped by the incongruous parallel emergence of two approaches to nonhuman animals.The animal sciences concerned with the efficient and profitable production of animals into meat and dairy products now embrace molecular knowledge as a means to extract new sources of biocapital from farmed animal bodies.However the emergence of animal studies and critical animal studies—mostly in the humanities and social sciences—work to question the dominant instrumental character of our relations with other animals.Twine considers the emergence of these approaches to bring into relief the paradox of a novel biotechnological power to breed new forms of animals at the very time when critical animal studies and threats such as climate change pose serious questions of anthropocentrism and hubris.

This book outlines the way in which the molecular turn in animal breeding now attempts to recuperate the major externalizations of meat/dairy production (most obviously human health, ecology and animal welfare) by capturing sustainability within the genome.Situating new modes of molecular capitalization within a broader economic narrative of the knowledge based bio-economy, Twine highlights the tension between questions of limits and sustainability.This book concludes by considering whether growing counter calls to reduce our consumption of meat/dairy products in the face of climate change threats are in fact complicit with an anthropocentric discourse that would marginalize from its understanding of sustainability a more thorough ethical questioning of normative human/animal relations. ... Read more

Product Description
Interest in environmental aspects of agriculture and in farm animal welfare has grown tremendously in recent years. Yet there are few books available which provide the relevant biological background to these issues, as well as describe the effects both of the environment on farm animals and of the animals on the environment. This book provides such a broad synthesis. It is divided into four parts covering: environmental factors influencing the production and welfare of farm animals; perception of the environment by farm animals; animal responses to the environment; and the effects of farm animals on the human environment. The authors include internationally-recognizedscientists from the UK, USA, Canada, France, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Egypt. The book will interest a wide range of students and research workers concerned with animal physiology and production, animal behavior and welfare, veterinary medicine and environmental science. ... Read more

Product Description
The struggle for the rights of wild, farmed and domestic animals is not by any means a recent phenomenon. Controversies around the issues of vivisection, zoos, and hunting all have a long history. Here Hilda Kean traces these issues across a period of more than 200 years, and also charts the history of vegetarianism and continuing campaigns against cruelty of animals. 40 illustrations. ... Read more

Product Description
Part of a series focusing on popular current issues and ideas, this text looks at animal rights, addressing the important questions children have about animals and their place in the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Interesting
I enjoyed reading this book, although I am already 18!If you are concerned about animal rights, you must read this. It has many interesting facts and illustations. However, it is kinda childish coz it is for children to read. And it has some false facts, such as it says ppl eat live money brains in Hong Kong!!Overall, despite its simplicity, it is a very good introductory guide for ppl who wanna know more about animal rights. Some facts are very basic and I knew it already before I read. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Designed to teach young people in grades 6 and up about animal welfare
A Kids' Guide to Protecting & Caring for Animals is a flat-spined, hands-on, consumable workbook designed to teach young people in grades 6 and up about animal welfare, including cruelty prevention, emergency readiness, wildlife rehabilitation, animal advocacy, habitat preservation, shelter volunteering, and more. Simple exercises, from gathering the who/what/when/where/why of a news story about animals to thinking of historical events involving animals to learning how to make a difference in one's community enhance this wonderful guide to compassion and responsible treatment of creatures that can't speak for themselves. Highly recommended.
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Product Description
Written in clear, straightforward language, this book looks at why some people are cruel to animals, whether animals have rights and whether it is right to kill them for food. It explains the different reasons why animals are killed and also looks at animal welfare organizations. Together with case studies and quotes from people with different attitudes, this book provides all the facts for readers to make up their own minds about the subject. ... Read more

Product Description
In The Golden Bridge, Patty Dobbs Gross provides both personal and professional advice on how specially bred and trained dogs help to facilitate communication for children with autism and other developmental disabilities. This important information compendium is a guide for parents dealing with the social, emotional, and educational issues related to raising children with challenges. Myths and labels concerning autism are explored,examined, and redefined. While focused on children, the advice that Gross shares will be immensely helpful for anyone involved in breeding, raising,and training dogs to mitigate any type ofdisability at any age. The Golden Bridge provides advice about living with autism, animal-assisted therapy and autism, training an assistance dog to work with a child with autism or a developmental disability, and using an assistance dog to deal with a child's grief. This impressive volume also contains a vast list of resources, including Web sites, for follow-up information, a section onbooks about autism, and a directory of assistance dog providers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

an enlightenening book to Autism and the way dogs can help
THis book is a great guide to the Autistic child and the introduction of a dog as therapist, companion, stabilizer and friend. I have had several friends who have autistic children and they have had great success with dogs as service dog companions. It would be good to have a trainer involved for the dog to insure stability in the dog's behavior. Autumn of Blessed Acres service dog

Dogmatic
Just finished the book and thought I would share my impressions while fresh. I very much enjoyed the author's personal stories about raising her son who is on the autism spectrum and how he developed and progressed through the years, in part due to the relationship with his service dog. The chapters describing the training and breeding of assistance dogs were also very informative, both from the author's experience as a trainer, and from the advice given by several contributing specialists in the second half of the book.

Less appealing aspects of the book included the over promotion of the author's NPO `North Star' which breeds and trains assistance dogs. So frequent was the name cited that I felt like I was reading the script from an infomercial. Along with tireless promotion of North Star comes the single minded advice that the one and only solution for an assistance dog is a pure bred Golden Retriever (only) that is well bred (North Star), well tempered (North Star), and well trained (North Star).I also found the text to be a bit flowery for my taste, and at times found it so over saturated with unnecessary metaphors and similes that it smothered the passage (like a load of jagged rock crashing down on a fragile candle).

Overall I did find this to be a useful book, particularly since our family is in the market for a dog, and we hope that it can be a good companion for our young son who is on the spectrum. Based on this reading though, I am not convinced we really need one of the elite assistance dogs described in the Golden Bridge, so we have adjusted our search toward a more ordinary family pet.

A Very Inspiring Read - Required Reading For Any Parent Considering a Dog
This book is one of the best written in regards to both educating yourself about acquiring a pet for your children and also a bonus to us parents of children on the Autism Spectrum - the author speaks from her own experiences (of which I relate to so much I feel as if I know her) and opens her heart and mind about inspiring and visionary life.We are a family considering a Golden Retriever to become our three year old's son's "best friend" and a part of our family and this book has been a wealth of information on the subject.I highly recommend this book to any family considering a pet and especially to a family who has a child with developmental or learning problems.I can't wait to read this author's next book!Enjoy!

Dogs connect straight to the HEART
THE GOLDEN BRIDGE is a wonderful book about working with dogs with special needs children with a primary focus on children with developmental disorders and particularly children with autism. Patti Dobbs, along with other guest writers, have a child with autism. They generously bring you into their lives to share the pain and the joys of having a child that is "different". They all explain the isolation from other families and the beautiful effects that a dog can have in healing.
There is compelling information about the significant benefits of dogs in the lives of families with special needs and children in classrooms, as well as instructions on training or finding dogs to be a part of families or therapy sessions. Excellent!

The Golden Bridge: A guide to assistance dogs for children challenged by autism or other developmental disabilities
An absolutely wonderful book even if you aren't interested in pursuing an assistance dog it is a must read.The authors ability to share not only her family's experience but others as well is deeply touching.I found it informative, educational and heartwarming. ... Read more

Product Description

Originally published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is London's best-known work. Marking the 100th anniversary of the novel, this New Riverside Edition is well timed to place London's work in a new and broader historical context. In addition, the volume will show how the critical reception of the work has changed over time. Due to a resurgence of interest in the study of Jack London during the past decade, a wealth of new material is available to further illuminate The Call of the Wild. Supplementary materials in this volume include other London fiction that predated his writing of this novel, letters he wrote about his intentions in writing it, early reviews of the work, and critical essays from past and present.

Product Description
Kids love animals, and teaching them compassion early on helps them to become compassionate adults. This new edition of PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's book Kids Can Save the Animals is full of fascinating facts and more than 100 fun and easy projects and ideas that show children how they can get active for animals.

Children are encouraged to make compassionate choices in an upbeat, kid-friendly style, and the book is filled with fun illustrations, jokes, and puzzles. Whether purchasing for your own child or a friend's, you couldn't make a better choice in offering a book that will truly make a difference in the lives of many. 278 pages, paperback. Ages: 8 to 13. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

a concerned parent...
In my opinion this book mixes facts with PETA's extremist views.It seems to me like they are trying to create little animal activists.While there is some good information and it's not all extreme, there are also some suggestions that I most certainly do not agree with.I have zero respect for Peta and their extremist ways.Peta is an extremist organization that while possibly having good intentions, go WAY too far in getting their point across.

This book has a quote that flat out says that "eating meat is WRONG".It told my child to protest outside the circus, to call companies over & over again until they do what you want, to harass shop owners who do not believe what you believe, to put notes inside the pockets of fur coats in stores, to boycott the zoos & aquariums.I would support my child if she wanted to go vegan, but I will not allow her to harass establishments that do not agree with her choice. It is wrong to force your opinion on others!

If you are not a fan of PETA or of an extremist's attitude I think you would be better off finding a different book.

Good but could be better
The concept of the book is great as are most of the suggestions.However, my family does not have any pets (as per the parental unit) and my sister and brother were looking for some more practical ways we could help animals.I wish I had known that so many tips involved things you do with your own pet.Not only that, but we don't have neighbors with pets, so it would have been nice to see tips for people in those situations.I feel like the book is written more for the typical suburban family than an inner city family such as mine.I gave the book three stars because I liked the tips, they just were not very practial for me.

Great for kids and their parents
In addition to giving animal advocacy a scientific boost in the nineteenth century, Charles Darwin promoted the notion that compassion for all creatures could be taught - instilled in children with the hope that ensuing generations would come to regard kindness toward animals as part of public consciousness.He may not have called it "humane education," but that's certainly what he had in mind.Likewise, this is the theme of Ingrid Newkirk's "50 Awesome Ways Kids Can Help Animals: Fun and Easy Ways to Be a Kind Kid."Originally published in 1991 as "Kids Can Save the Animals!: 101 Easy Things to Do," this renamed edition has been expanded and updated, but its message hasn't changed: we're never too young to learn respect for all life.

No, it doesn't seem Newkirk has cut her suggestions in half; indeed, there are probably hundreds of ideas here to benefit animals, the planet and human health.That's right: it's a vegan guidebook for the younger set.Organized into 50 very short chapters and written in a fun style sure to appeal to its target audience, the book goes beyond teaching kids how to merely be kind to animals, aiming for the higher goal of educating readers in virtually every aspect of vegan living, from cruelty-free diet and dress to speciesist language and animal activism - certainly no surprise coming from the president and co-founder of PETA.It's also chock-o-block with animal facts, jokes, vegan recipes, resources and quotes from celebrities kids will know.

What is likely to engage young readers as much as the lighthearted tone that never talks down to them is how the author incorporates a child's interest in animals with their love of games, toys, riddles and trivia, encouraging imagination and creativity.One chapter, for example, focuses on the virtually universal appeal stickers have for children, suggesting that kids append stickers with animal-rights messages onto letters, bikes, notebooks, skateboards and more.The many topics covered in "50 Awesome Ways Kids Can Help Animals" will also likely inspire countless persuasive essays, school projects and class speeches, thus disseminating its message to an even broader audience.

My only quibbles with the book concern domestic rabbits.These animals are very popular with kids, and Newkirk could have taken the opportunity to advise children and their parents to learn more about the misunderstood rabbit before bringing one home from a shelter or having one in class.Also, I was disappointed that she didn't make more of a case for keeping these animals indoors; though she notes that rabbits love to be inside, she describes an ideal backyard hutch, rather than explaining how to keep a bunny in the house, safe and as part of the family.

If we are to have any hope of a world in which animals are treated with compassion and respect, handing down a legacy of kindness is both our best course of action and an ethical obligation.Moreover, in an age when violent perpetrators seem to be getting younger, and such violence is presaged by childhood abuse of animals, raising empathetic children has become more than a parental hope, it's now a societal necessity."50 Awesome Ways Kids Can Help Animals" is a step in the right direction, teaching a generation of kids what being humane is all about.I think Darwin would be proud.

Mark Hawthorne, author of Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism

Great Book for kids
I loved this book. I bought it with my 7 year old daughter in mind. She's been trying to go veg for a while and this was written in a format that she can understand.

Inspires kids to act
I bought this book for my niece, but I haven't given it to her yet because I wanted to read it first and see if I thought it was something she'd like. After reading most of it, I can say wholeheartedly that it is the perfect book for any child who cares about animals.

The book is very easy to read, broken up with short chapters, lots of bulleted facts, quizzes, and boxes. The best thing about the book is that it takes kids' passion for animals and channels it into constructive ways they can help. For example, volunteering at the animal shelter, which is one of the book's suggestions, is a great way for kids to help animals and also helps educate them about important issues like spaying and neutering and being a responsible animal guardian.

The book covers a lot of ground and will probably inspire some animated dinner table conversations, but I think it's a great way to make kids feel like they are active members of society who can make a difference. ... Read more

Product Description
Collection of historical, theoretical and applied articles on the ethical considerations in the treatment of animals by human beings. ... Read more