True Animal

As Charles Darwin suggested more than a century ago, the differences between animals and humans are of degree and not of kind. Not long ago, ethologists denied that animals had emotions or true intelligence. Now, we know that rats laugh when tickled, magpies mourn as they cover the departed with greenery, female whales travel thousands of miles for annual reunions with their gal pals, seals navigate by the stars, bears hum when happy, and crows slide down snowy rooftops for fun.

When Steven Carino discovered his dog, Oliver, had been stolen from his car, he knew he would do anything to get Oliver back. The friendly Yorkie-Shih Tzu mix - with his bundle of black and brown hair, long floppy ears, and big round eyes - had been Steven's companion during even the loneliest days. But it took more than one man to bring Oliver home. It took a community of friends and strangers who believed that love is worth fighting for.

Jim was a South African railway inspector in the late 1800s who lost his legs in an accident while at work. Unable to perform all his tasks with his disability but desperate to keep his job, Jim discovered a brilliant solution, a baboon named Jack. Jim trained Jack to help him both at home and at the depot.

Lulu is like many kids you know. She lives in a house with her mom, dad, and sister. She likes soda, hopscotch, and comic books. But there is one way Lulu is different: she’s a bonobo. Being the only bonobo in a human world can be lonesome. And so Lulu and her family take a long boat ride to a jungle Lulu has never seen before. Now, she’s surrounded by creatures with faces that look like hers and who make sounds like she does. But Lulu can’t possibly be like these apes…can she?

One misty evening, Jennings Michael Burch's mother, too sick to care for him, left her eight-year-old son at an orphanage with the words, "I'll be right back." She wasn't.... Shuttled through a bleak series of foster homes, orphanages, and institutions, Jennings never remained in any of them long enough to make a friend. Instead, he clung to a tattered stuffed animal named Doggie, his sole source of comfort in a frightening world. Here, in his own words, Jennings Michael Burch reveals the abuse and neglect he experienced during his lost childhood.

First came the boom - the loud, deep, unapologetic bellow that seemed to erupt from the very core of the Earth. Eerily, the majestic high-rise slowly leaned to the south. On the 78th floor of the World Trade Center's north tower, no alarms sounded, and no one had information about what had happened at 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001. Blind since birth, Michael couldn't see a thing, but he could hear the sounds of shattering glass, falling debris, and terrified people flooding around him and his guide dog, Roselle.

It was a cold and foggy February night in 1983 when a group of armed thieves crept onto Ballymany Stud, near The Curragh in County Kildare, Ireland, to steal Shergar, one of the thoroughbred industry's most renowned stallions. The thieves demanded a hefty ransom for the safe return of one of the most valuable Thoroughbreds in the world, but the ransom was never paid and Shergar's remains have never been found.

On Valentine’s Day 2019, someone stole Steven Carino’s dog, Oliver, from his car. Having lost his mother at 13 and grown up with an alcoholic father, he could always count on his dogs for comfort and company. But now, with his beloved Oliver missing, Steven felt utterly alone. Then, the miracle. In a series of near-impossible coincidences, people from different walks of life crossed paths with Oliver and with Steven.

The Main Line Mutt is a Heartwarming Tale of a Mixed Breed Dog Named Maggie.

It was a cool, quiet evening at Calumet Farm, where the most valuable racehorses—including the prolific stallion Alydar—had settled into their stalls for the evening. Alton Stone, filling in for the regular night watchman, completed his rounds at the barn. Although nothing seemed out of the ordinary, an inexplicable hunch led Stone to check on Alydar. What he found—a grievously injured horse with no discernable cause—jump-started one of the biggest mysteries to ever hit the horse racing world.

With winter coming, orphaned bear cub Glee is looking for a place to nap. He finally finds a cozy corner in an empty railroad car. Glee is rudely awakened and discovers that he has taken a ride on a traveling circus train! The performers who find him adore him and try to find an act for him. That is the only way the ringleader will let him stay. Will Glee be able to find his talent in time, or will he end up back out in the cold?

In December 2012, something happened that would turn Hannah Russell's world upside down. A promising young rider with two horses of her own, Hannah recently had been given the devastating news that she would never ride again. That morning in December, local Shetland pony breeder pulled up and asked Hannah if she wanted another horse. The woman said she had a six-month-old Shetland pony she couldn't keep. Without a moment's thought, Hannah said yes.

For decades, his family rescued lost and forgotten donkeys in the Irish countryside. He had no idea that one day, the donkeys would rescue him. Sanctuary is the remarkable true story of how faith turned one lost man’s life around with the help of the rescue animals who loved him. It’s an antidote to despair and a call to hope, revealing the beauty and wonder of Ireland as you’ve never seen it before.

Great Horse Racing Mysteries digs beneath the surface of some of the sport's most intriguing cases.

Discover the true tales of daring people who survived through bitter cold, deadly storms, and other dangers with little food or other resources in this book from the Fighting to Survive series.

The story that became a global sensation: Sophie, the Australian cattle dog who was lost at sea and swam six miles through shark-infested waters to a remote island where she survived in the wild for five months.... It was just another day in paradise as Jan and Dave Griffith, along with their blue cattle dog, Sophie, motored out of Mackay Marina for a gorgeous weekend at sea. But when the sky suddenly darkened and the waves turned fierce, the unthinkable happened: Sophie disappeared overboard.

Raccoon brothers Bingo and J’miah are the newest recruits of the Official Sugar Man Swamp Scouts. The opportunity to serve the Sugar Man - the massive creature who magnanimously rules over the swamp - is a big responsibility. 12-year-old Chap Brayburn is not a member of any such organization. But he loves the swamp something fierce. And help is surely needed, because world-class alligator wrestler Jaeger Stitch wants to turn Sugar Man swamp into an Alligator World Wrestling Arena and Theme Park.

When a pet is sick, people—even the rich and famous—are at their most authentic and vulnerable. They could have a Monet on the wall and an Oscar on the shelf, but if their cat gets a cold, all they want to talk about are snotty noses and sneezing fits. That’s when they call premier in-home veterinarian Dr. Amy Attas. In Pets and the City, Dr. Amy shares all the funny, heartbreaking, and life-affirming experiences she’s faced throughout her thirty-year career treating the cats and dogs of New Yorkers from Park Avenue to the projects.

In the midst of the Blizzard of 1978, the tanker Global Hope floundered on the shoals in Salem Sound off the Massachusetts coast. When the Coast Guard heard the Mayday calls, they immediately dispatched a patrol rescue boat. But within an hour, the Coast Guard rescue boat was in as much trouble as the tanker - both paralyzed in unrelenting seas. Enter Captain Frank Quirk, who was compelled to act. Gathering his crew of four, Quirk plunged his 49-foot steel boat, the Can Do, into the blizzard.

I thought I was an average woman except for strange little events in my life. These events were like dust bunnies under the bed - out of sight, out of mind, hidden little secrets I needed to tell. I finally joined a healing energy school to get some answers, and got the shock of my life: A spirit guide communicated with me while I was meditating, and she was just the start. When animals started appearing around people, I knew the old, traditional, limited ways of thinking had to go.