Great Animal

Have you ever wondered why we count sheep to get to sleep? Or where the phrase "red herring" comes from? Across British history, animals have been written about in poetry, painted in oils, and even recorded in law. Loved or feared, familiar or endangered, animals are everywhere to be seen. In this enchanting study, Karen R. Jones takes a journey through the history of ten animals to show the extraordinary story of "beastly" Britain.

The Great Match Race is a captivating account of America's first sports spectacle, a horse race that pitted North against South in three grueling heats. On a bright afternoon in May 1823, an unprecedented sixty thousand people showed up to watch two horses run the equivalent of nine Kentucky Derbys in a few hours' time. Eclipse was the majestic champion representing the North, and Henry, an equine arriviste, was the pride of the South.

On June 23, 2000, the iron-ore carrier MV Treasure, en route from Brazil to China, foundered off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa, spilling 1,300 tons of oil into the ocean and contaminating the habitat of 75,000 penguins. Realizing that 41 percent of the world's population of African penguins could perish, local conservation officials immediately launched a massive rescue operation.

When poachers invade an idyllic Wyoming meadow to scout the perfect location to build a lucrative hunting lodge, the animals' lives are forever changed. Marred by the harrowing intrusion, the grieving society of woodland creatures must summon the courage to unite, predators and prey alike, to protect their majestic utopia from the rifle-toting men.

Eliza Jacobson has always been the black sheep of her mega-successful family, who runs the HealthNut Corporation. She’s not as pretty, talented, or business-savvy as her older sister, but she loves volunteering to work with the dogs at Pretty Paws, especially Athena, a Great Dane whose high-anxiety habits make her nearly unadoptable. After her last-chance opportunity to become a vet tech collapses, she takes a job at the call center of HealthNut’s competitor, Thetalife Supplements, where she meets the dashing, charming, sweep-you-off-your-feet CEO, Tony Costos.

From the author of the Horace & Bunwinkle series comes this hilarious and heartwarming story of forgiveness, trust, and found family, perfect for fans of A Boy Called Bat and Wedgie & Gizmo. The Great Zoodini—aka Radar the fennec fox—has never fit in. In fact, his only friend is a stuffed...

Listeners are loving this cozy mystery series with its two indomitable dog sleuths. Zack, Jillian and the corgis, Sherlock and Watson, are at it again in this delightful series that pulls you right in. Zack, Jillian, and the corgis find themselves in the midst of a new mystery with a Thanksgiving twist. Just as they are planning a big holiday dinner, there are no cranberries to be found in the shops. In cozy Pomme Valley and other nearby towns, someone is breaking in and stealing only the cranberries! What's up with that?

A dog tries his best to keep his two co-parenting owners and their happiness afloat in this hilarious and touching sequel to Joint Custody by Lauren Baratz-Logsted and Jackie Logsted. The Man is happy. The Woman is happy. That means Gatz is happy. He'd like to forget about the trouble he made...

Physicians used to make house calls. Today, a few veterinarians still do. Duncan MacVean, DVM, is one such vet. His patients range from cats and dogs to pigs and lizard - each of them a unique personality. Every animal and every home is different, but every owner is the same in their affection for their companions. Without warning, MacVean finds himself in odd situations: stepping into a basement full of free-flying bats or struck speechless by a pig who loves opera so much that she falls into a trance.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the author of the runaway phenomenon Unbroken comes a universal underdog story about the horse who came out of nowhere to become a legend. “Fascinating . . . Vivid . . . A first-rate piece of storytelling, leaving us not only with a vivid portrait of a...

Penguin Classics presents Laurence Sterne's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, adapted for audio and available as a digital download as part of the Penguin English Library series. Read by Steven Pacey. 'I am got, I know not how, into a cold unmetaphorical vein of infamous...

With their long tusks, narwhals are unique whales that live in the Arctic Ocean. But as climate change causes global temperatures to rise, less and less sea ice is covering the Arctic Ocean each year. Narwhals are left vulnerable without the ice, which historically provided them with safe areas to roam out of reach of their natural predators, killer whales. And humans are taking advantage of the clearer water, searching and drilling for oil and hauling cargo.

Holy crab-claws! The fast-action Andee the Aquanaut Trilogy continues in Book 2, All Great Things Start With Small Beginnings. Andee is torn between finding his parents, fulfilling his role as protector of the ocean's creatures, saving the Lost City and rescuing the King's beautiful daughter, Yolanda.

The third story in the charming Little Grey Rabbit series, in which Hare visits the famous Toad, is fooled by a very clever fox and makes a daring escape through Fox's kitchen window.

When Bunny, Monkey and friends discover that all of existence is a virtual reality simulation, life gets a little bit crazy! Bunny declares himself The Woods' Magical Protector, Pig becomes a superspy...

The father of the Kentucky Derby called him "the greatest all-around Thoroughbred in American racing history". Sportswriter Grantland Rice simply called him "the greatest racehorse". Now Eliza McGraw tells the story of how a gangling, long-shot Kentucky Derby winner named Exterminator became one of the most beloved racehorses of all time.

A bestselling journalist delivers the never-before-told story of the plush animal craze that became the tulip mania of the 1990s In the annals of consumer crazes, nothing compares to Beanie Babies. In just three years, collectors who saw the toys as a means of speculation made creator Ty...

Sam, Bonzi, Lola, Mbongo, Jelani, and Makena are no ordinary apes. These bonobos, like others of their species, are capable of reason and carrying on deep relationships—but unlike most bonobos, they also know American Sign Language. Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab...

When a group of teens decide to camp out with their horses at a haunted cabin in the woods on Halloween night, they unravel a mystery and embark on the adventure of a lifetime.

Sauli's back, and this time, she's on a mission: FREEDOM! From disastrous bath times and daycare breakouts to tent invasions and Thanksgiving escapes, Sauli's quest for adventure leads to one comical catastrophe after another. Watch as she stirs up chaos in open houses, forms an alliance with a wolfdog escape artist, and even leads a wild doggy parade through the streets of San Francisco!