ReadingAnimals

Sarah reviewed a couple of animal books over at Puss Reboots this week that you might want to check out.

Number one: For grown-ups

The review of Flight of the Goose first caught my eye because of some fantastically long and unfamiliar words, which turned out to be from Inupiaq, an Inuit dialect spoken in parts of Alaska. One of the story’s narrators is a scientist who studies birds.

The meeting of cultures that can occur when field biologists from the West venture to other parts of the world can be beautiful, negative, humorous* and transformative. The review suggests that there might be a little of each in this story.

Number two: For kids of all ages

The second book review was for, Give a Pig Pancake. It sounds like a fun way to think about cause and effect and the future as well as a silly, entertaining story. Pigs are amazingly smart and social animals, so maybe one could sneak in a little biology lesson as well!

According to the Amazon review, the moral of the story is “Give ‘em and inch, and they’ll take a mile.” To my way of thinking, “Be kind to pigs, who certainly don’t want to go to farms,” would be a more useful moral lesson. And it makes sense, given the story begins with the kindness of sharing pancakes and syrup!

Looking for some children’s books about animals?

I wrote a post about one with a conservation theme earlier this week. Check out I’m Lucy.

*I say this as someone who unwittingly mispronounced the word for “bird” for weeks or months, instead saying “ass.” I eventually figured something was up when I was constantly being asked to repeat myself.