Impact4Animals
Books
Every month, as Proprietor of the Five Bone Bookshop, I bark about
five recent publications I’ve awarded the status of “Impact4Animals
Books”: Books that your Canine Reviewer believes hold the
power to transform the hearts and minds of Readers, by opening
their eyes to their own close kinship with all Sentient Beings –
including us Dogs!
Impact4Animals
Books change the lives of millions of readers, who with
enlightened understanding then act to improve the lives of
Animals. The first five books I’ve awarded Impact4Animals
status eloquently describe the tragedy of America’s unwanted
Companion Dogs and Cats, offer solutions, call for change. In
future posts, I’ll feature books that tell amazing true stories
about Animals, present new research that explores our close kinship
with Humans, describe the discovery of new (and ancient) ways of
communication, shed light on our closely related origins, and
reaffirm the inestimable value of life for all feeling citizens of
our Earth.
Five Impact4Animals Books
About Animal Shelters:
When I hear that HSUS says millions of once-wanted Companion Dogs
and Cats are abandoned, and “four million are ‘put down’ in U.S.
Shelters each year”, I lose my customary joy, and feel great
sadness. Many heroic Humans fight to rescue Animals, but the abuse,
the abandonment and the killing go on, because millions of other
Humans just don’t understand. Yet among those who care, so
many don’t know how to help, since they can’t all take the time,
fight the legal battles or endure the expense and heartache of
hands-on care and rescue.
But there is another way to make a difference! Take a look at
the following selection of Impact Books, with their photographs
that woof a thousand words about Dog Shelters; read of the amazing
heart and work of rescued Dogs, the dignity and close kinship of
“Man’s Best Friend”. The Paw is mightier than the sword, I say, and
few readers of these powerful literary (and photographic) efforts
will escape unchanged!
Take, for example, “Shelter
Dogs”, a book of photographic Dog portraits by
Traer Scott. Starting with the poignant “Dare I hope?” eyes
of her cover portrait Dogs, “these photos reveal the strikingly
intense emotion, dignity, and even humor that Scott saw in each
face, despite the Dog’s circumstances”. What Human can fail
to understand the meaning of the looks in all those beautiful
eyes?
This is the deeply touching photo (right) that pulls readers
into “One
at a Time: A Week in an American Animal
Shelter” by Diane Leigh. Did you know
that although half the households in America include an Animal
Companion, shelters take in eight to twelve million lost and
unwanted Dogs and Cats a year? In these unforgettable stories of
this nation's homeless Animal tragedy, readers see the real faces
behind the numbers, and experience “the “miracles and heartbreak
that play out every day in our nation's shelters... one Animal at a
time”. Yet I loved to hear that “this tragedy can be ended and each
one of us can be part of the solution... offering [Humans] the
chance to become better people, to reawaken their connection with
other living beings, and to reaffirm the sanctity of life
itself.”
In “Disposable
Dogs: Heartwarming, True Stories of Courage and
Compassion”, Steve Swanbeck impacts readers’
lives by introducing “last chance” Dogs who are smart, heroic,
funny, and loyal. “There's the young Saint Bernard who was adopted
from a shelter at the eleventh hour and went on to become the
mascot for a professional football team...the neighborly golden
retriever who was abandoned when her owner died and soon afterward
saved a toddler from falling off a cliff...the elderly blind mutt
and deaf old mongrel who found each other near the end of their
lonely lives and remained soul mates forever.” “Disposable
Dogs” celebrates “the meaningful, wondrous lives that have been
rescued by good people who make a difference” in a book that will
also make a significant difference.
In “Rescue
Ink: How Ten Guys Saved Countless Dogs and Cats, Twelve Horses,
Five Pigs, One Duck, and a Few Turtles” by
Denise Flaim, ten tough and tattooed bikers rescue animals in
danger. “Working from tips, they have rescued countless animals,
including a dognapped bulldog and 180 cats from the home of a
hoarder. In between rescues, they've protested the barbaric
practices of a horse slaughterhouse, visited schools to educate
children about animal kindness and that ‘abusers are losers,’ and
participated in Puppy Mill Awareness Day in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania. What will be the likely impact of this
book? How many “tough guys” do you think will allow
themselves to feel compassion, now that Johnny O, Batso, Big Ant, G
and Angel have shown the way?
In “Miracle
Dog: How Quentin Survived the Gas Chamber to Speak for Animals on
Death Row”, author Randy Grim describes how,
“when he got a phone call from a St. Louis Animal Shelter worker
pleading with him to take yet another unwanted Dog to his no-kill
shelter, he had no idea that the Dog would change his entire life.
Quentin had survived a horrifying procedure still practiced in some
animal shelters: ‘euthanasia’ by carbon monoxide gas poisoning. The
account of Quentin's ordeal and the crusades Grim and Quentin have
undertaken on behalf of abandoned animals is sobering, hilarious,
and ultimately uplifting.” Exemplifying the impact of this
book on readers, Ranny Green, book reviewer for The Seattle Times,
writes: "Through 30 years of reviewing pet books, I can't
remember one that has left such a lasting impression."
Best-selling publications like those I’ve called
“Impact4Animals
Books” reach millions of readers across America, the books’
photographs deeply touching even more browsers in bookstores and
through the Internet. These books affect children (the place
to start educating and enlightening the next generation), the
homeowners who adopt “pets”, and people of every walk of
life. Do you care about Animals, but have no time to
volunteer at a Shelter? Please work to end homelessness: Urge
everyone to have their Animals spayed or neutered, adopt if you
can, but by all means write for Animals! Write a Blog, an
article, an editorial, or if you are able, write a book!
Imagine: Your book might be awarded “Impact4Animals Book”
status on Five Bone Bookshop!
RuffWriter, Proprietor
Five Bone Bookshop
