When two dog breeders were caught coming into Montana with 180 shivering and malnourished collies stacked in crates inside a tractor-trailer, my heart stopped. Those dogs looked like scrawnier versions of my two shelties. I was a newspaper reporter at the time, and covering the exhausting rescue and rehabilitation of those collies awakened me to the suffering so many animals undergo at human hands. My first book, Saving Gracie: How one dog escaped the shadowy world of American puppy mills, was inspired by that case. Ever since, I’ve made it my mission to shine the light on the mistreatment of animals, to try to capture the indomitable resilience they are able to summon when given the chance.
I wrote...
Last Chain on Billie: How One Extraordinary Elephant Escaped the Big Top
Last Chain on Billie: How One Extraordinary Elephant Escaped the Big Top tells the story of an abused elephant who spent 23 years performing one-foot handstands and other tricks in the circus before she rebelled. She was taken off the road and housed in a cold barn for 11 more years until, finally, she was rescued. Last Chain chronicles the history of elephants in America and Billie’s rehabilitation at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, where—despite lingering anxieties—she will live out her life cared for and surrounded by nature.
Lay Me Down, a former racehorse afflicted with pneumonia, an eye infection, and malnourishment and nursing a young foal, goes home with her new owner, who’s also struggling to overcome life’s setbacks. This moving memoir charts how, in spite of everything they’ve been through, horse and human find the courage to embrace contentment and hope in the day-to-day.
When she agrees to take on one of the abused horses just rescued by the local SPCA, a new chapter opens in Susan Richards's difficult life.
She lost her mother at the age of five and was raised by uncaring relatives; she married unhappily and divorced; and she'd been an alcoholic. Now, at the age of forty-three, she lives with three horses who keep her company: the diva-like Georgia, boyish Tempo and hopelessly romantic Hotshot.
While trying to capture another horse assigned to her, Lay Me Down, a skeletal mare, walks into Susan's horse trailer of her own volition. When…
Most of us think of parrots as amusing creatures capable of repeating sometimes embarrassing utterances in hilarious falsettos. Alex & Me goes beyond that superficial understanding; it reveals the multifaceted personality of one African Grey parrot and the connection he developed with a psychologist who was struck by and deeply moved by the bird’s remarkable intellect.
The remarkable true story of an extraordinary relationship between psychologist Irene M. Pepperberg and Alex, an African Grey parrot who proved scientists and accepted wisdom wrong by demonstrating an astonishing ability to communicate and understand complex ideas.
"You be good. I love you," were Alex's final words to his owner, research scientist Irene Pepperberg, before his premature death at age thirty-one on September 6, 2007. An African Grey parrot, Alex had a brain the size of a shelled walnut, yet he could add, sound out words, understand concepts like bigger, smaller, more, fewer, and none, and…
The arrest of NFL player Michael Vick for operating a dog-fighting ring drew attention mostly for the ramifications Vick faced. The Lost Dogs spotlights the fate of the fifty-one pit bulls left traumatized by Vicks’ brutal operation: how, thanks to a combination of therapy and new doting humans, they regained an indomitable sense of trust.
The bestselling story of survival and our powerful bond with man's best friend, in the aftermath of the nation's most notorious animal cruelty case. Featuring a new Afterword with updates on the Vick dogs.
Animal lovers and sports fans were shocked when the story broke about NFL player Michael Vick's brutal dog-fighting operation. But what became of the fifty-one dogs who survived? As acclaimed writer Jim Gorant reveals, their story is the truly newsworthy aspect of this case. The Lost Dogs traces the effort to bring Vick to justice and turns the spotlight on these infamous pit bulls, which were…
Author McDougall took a mistreated donkey—with hooves left untrimmed for so long he could barely walk—restored him to health and trained him to run alongside McDougall in a burro race. The contest had them scaling mountains and fording streams, something the author wasn’t certain Sherman could pull off. McDougall recalls with humor how the donkey gained confidence and developed a faith in humanity as a result.
From the bestselling author of Born to Run, a heartwarming story about training a rescue donkey to run one of the most challenging races in America, and, in the process, discovering the life-changing power of the human-animal connection.
"A delight, full of heart and hijinks and humor." —John Grogan, author of Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog
When Christopher McDougall decided to adopt a donkey in dire straits, he had no idea what he was getting himself into. But with the help of his neighbors, Chris came up with a crazy idea. Burro racing, a…
Ever seen a really old farm animal? Most of us haven’t, and that’s because they’re “harvested” before they have a chance to grow old. The photos in this book poignantly capture the rare pigs, chickens, cows, and other animals allowed to live out their lives at sanctuaries. The dignity displayed in the images is truly profound.
There's nothing quite like a relationship with an aged pet-a dog or cat who has been at our side for years, forming an ineffable bond. Pampered pets, however, are a rarity among animals who have been domesticated. Farm animals, for example, are usually slaughtered before their first birthday. We never stop to think about it, but the typical images we see of cows, chickens, pigs, and the like are of young animals. What would we see if they were allowed to grow old?
Isa Leshko shows us, brilliantly, with this collection of portraits. To create these portraits, she spent hours…
Susan Tate Ankeny left a career in teaching to write the story of her father’s escape from Nazi-occupied France. In 2011, after being led on his path through France by the same Resistance fighters who guided him in 1944, she felt inspired to tell the story of these brave French patriots, especially the 17-year-old- girl who risked her own life to save her father’s. Susan is a member of the 8th Air Force Historical Society, the Air Force Escape and Evasion Society, and the Association des Sauveteurs d’Aviateurs Alliés.
The first and only full-length biography of Hazel Ying Lee, an unrecognized pioneer and unsung World War II hero who fought for a country that actively discriminated against her gender, race, and ambition.
This unique hidden figure defied countless stereotypes to become the first Asian American woman in United States history to earn a pilot's license, and the first female Asian American pilot to fly for the military.
Her achievements, passionate drive, and resistance in the face of oppression as a daughter of Chinese immigrants and a female aviator changed the course of history. Now the remarkable story of a fearless underdog finally surfaces to inspire anyone to reach toward the sky.
One of WWII’s most uniquely hidden figures, Hazel Ying Lee was the first Asian American woman to earn a pilot’s license, join the WASPs, and fly for the United States military amid widespread anti-Asian sentiment and policies.
Her singular story of patriotism, barrier breaking, and fearless sacrifice is told for the first time in full for readers of The Women with Silver Wings by Katherine Sharp Landdeck, A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell, The Last Boat Out of Shanghai by Helen Zia, Facing the Mountain by Daniel James Brown and all Asian American, women’s and WWII history books.…
