Family Dog

More than 84 million Americans - almost three-fourths of the US population - own a pet, and our society is still learning how to recognize and dignify that relationship with proper mourning rituals. We have only recently allowed the conversation of how to grieve for our nonhuman family members to come front and center. Lost Companions fills a specific, important demand, a massive need in the market for an accessible, meaningful book on pet loss.

When Cara felt her teenaged children slipping away and saw an empty nest on the horizon, she decided the best way to fill that void was with dogs - lots of them - and so her foster journey began. In 2015, her Pennsylvania farm became a haven for Operation Paws for Homes. There were the nine puppies at once, which arrived with less than a day's notice; a heart-worm positive dog; a deeply traumatized stray pup from Iraq; and countless others who just needed a gentle touch and a warm place to sleep.

Kathy's husband, George, yearned for a Border Collie. This is the story of the birth and life of their beloved Ringo, the transition out of his body and rebirth as little Nina, a female Border Collie. As Ringo, and their matriarchal cat, Solo, faced health challenges and moved toward their end-of-life, Kathy and George were referred to Amanda Reister, a gifted pet communicator, to learn how best to care for their aging pets. Suddenly, everything changed. The conversations they've had with their pets, through Amanda, were nothing short of miraculous and completely changed their paradigm.

Charles and Lizzie Peterson love puppies. Their family fosters these young dogs, giving them love and proper care, until they can find the perfect forever home. When Charles and Lizzy find Scruffy stuck in a fence at a scary old house, they aren't sure if she's lost or been abandoned. Either way, Scruffy has learned that smiling at humans always gets her what she wants... and soon so does the rest of the world. When she hits social media, Scruffy goes viral, getting her tons of attention and many possible homes. Maybe even too many!

Follow Delta and her puppies Oscar, Christmas, Bonnnie, Misha, and Alexandra from the pups' conception throughout their lives, in this memoir of a German Shepherd dog family. The stories highlight their triumphs and tragedies. These dogs comforted dying patients and their families, overcame immense adversity, and never lost their love for life and for people, from newborns to 90-year-olds.

Dad and Ben haven't been getting along recently and Dad hopes a road trip to rescue a border collie will help them reconnect. But Ben is on to Dad's plan and invites Ben's thuggish buddy, Theo. The family dog, Atticus, comes along, too, and the story is told by Ben and Atticus. When their truck breaks down, they commandeer an old school bus, along with its mechanic, Gus. Next, they pick up Mia, a waitress escaping a tense situation. Only sharp-eyed Atticus realizes that Theo is on the run - and someone is following them.

Every day across America, consumers face issues with credit cards, mortgages, car loans, and student loans. When they are cheated or mistreated, all too often they hit a brick wall against the financial companies. People are fed up with being run over by big corporations, and few have the resources or expertise to fight back on their own. It is no wonder consumers feel powerless: they are outgunned every step of the way. Since 1970, the financial industry has doubled in size. It is the biggest source of campaign contributions....

Olive Hudson desperately wants a dog. But that doesn't seem to be a possibility right now. Newly orphaned, she's moving in with the half sister she hardly knows, and their life is too chaotic to include a dog. But then something wonderful happens: Olive gets a chance to raise Lumie, a guide dog puppy. Discipline. Rules. Lots of hugs. Only the best of the best puppies continue on to become guide dogs, and of course Olive wants Lumie to be chosen. But if she is, that means that Olive will lose her.

Available in English at last, the international bestseller from one of Japan's most acclaimed authors, a touching tale of a broken family contending with the pain of the past to live in the present, helped by the unforgettable dog who becomes their lifeline. Sakura is the story of a family who...

Another heartwarming Japanese bestseller about a cat in the afterlife who must deliver messages to five people on earth in order to see his beloved owner again . . . if only he can manage to not disrupt the balance of the universe. After a long life with a loving human family, tabby cat Fuuta...

An in-depth account of training and working with a guide dog--and the radically honest story of a visually impaired woman facing her own internalized ableism For years, renowned ethics scholar Deni Elliott lived with her own moral dilemma: though severely visually impaired since birth, she spent...

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD A razor-sharp new collection of stories of visionary childhood misfits and struggling adult dreamers from this legendary writer of “perfectly indescribable fiction . . . To read Williams is to look into the abyss” (The Atlantic). “Night was best...

Dr. Lucy Peterman was not built for a messy life. A well-respected surgeon whose patients rely on her warmth, compassion, and fierce support, Lucy has always worked hard and trusted in the system. She's not the sort of person who ends up in a 12-step program after being caught stealing supplies from her hospital. But that was Lucy before the accident - before her husband and unborn baby were ripped away from her in an instant, before her future felt like a broken promise. Caught red-handed in a senseless act, she's faced with a choice: get some help or lose her medical license.

Suzy Medley is having a bad day...when a shabby terrier turns up at her door. Just like Suzy, Scout has been abandoned, although only Suzy has been left with a financial mess and a business in tatters thanks to her ex. Suzy takes Scout in, and her chaotic world changes in unexpected ways: strangers have never been more welcoming, and her teenage kids can’t wait to come home to visit. Then a chance encounter on a windy Hebridean beach makes things more complicated, because Suzy isn’t the only one who needs a friend.

Waylon has lots of ideas for making life more awesome through science, like teleportation, human gills, and attracting cupcakes by controlling gravity. But it's impossible for him to concentrate on his inventions when he's experiencing his own personal big bang.

My life is perfectly fine. Alex has pretended this for years—despite an emotionally absent father, a best friend drifting away, and a floundering dog-training business. At least Alex has her sister, Meredith, a driven polar opposite. But both their lives are upended when their estranged mother dies of a genetic condition that the sisters have a fifty-fifty chance of inheriting. For Alex, a world without her mother is uncomfortable. But a world without Meredith is unthinkable.

“Tender, immersive, and thrilling." —Gabrielle Zevin "One of the best novels I’ve ever read about friendship.” —Stephen King "I can't remember the last time I cared about fictional characters as desperately as I came to care about the beautiful, hilarious and courageous teenage...

"This book! It stole my heart, broke my heart, and warmed my heart. Chase and Finnegan have the kind of friendship we all need." —Barbara O'Connor, New York Times bestselling author of Wish From the Newbery Honor-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Rover's Story comes the...

Ella, die gut erzogene und treue Gefährtin, begleitete James viele Jahre und spielte sogar eine entscheidende Rolle bei der ersten Begegnung mit seiner zukünftigen Frau Alizee. Durch bedingungslose Liebe entpuppt sich Ella als intuitive Freundin, die James' Stimmungen liest und ihm in seinen dunkelsten Stunden Trost spendet, zum Katalysator für seine Heilungsreise wird und ihm hilft, all das Gute in seinem Leben und seiner Zukunft zu sehen.

In Five Years meets a millennial The Joy Luck Club in the adult debut from the author of YA Reese Pick Throwback— a funny and fresh love story of a woman thrown a curveball by fate, and the family secret that will make her question everything. She knows what her happily ever after looks like...