An unbelievable story of what some people do to the pets they supposedly love. A must read for all children and their parents who are contemplating a pet.

I read this book, and I loved it. It touched my heart in a way that no other book has. It is now sitting in a good place to be seen where I work-almost everybody there has read it and nobody there is in the 4-8 year old age range-except for maybe some of the cats!

Jasmine's story of survival, and her utimate rescue after her family moves away and locks her in the apartment, will bring both tears and smiles to your heart. The companion tape enhances the reading experience for the children. My elementary school students ask for rereadings of this story.

Chessie the Travelin' Man is a sensitive and wonderfully written book that details the amazing true story of a very special creature. My children love the illustrations in this book as well as the rhyming prose. This story is not only charming, it is filled with factual information about a rare and endangered species. I would reccommend it to any parent or educator!

Lovely book, all in rhymes which my 6 yr old son loved. Based on a true story about a manatee that somehow makes it up the northern atlantic coast two years in a row. He is tagged and followed. Includes gentle info about how manatees get hurt by boats, and how few there are left in the world. Beautifully illustrated, and received a Parent's Award. "Chessie" is for the Chesapeake Bay, which he entered on this first trip. Five stars because my son loved it so.

This is an excellent book. I personally think that everyone should read this book. It is a must have for vegetarian families and meat eating families who feel that animals should have rights and dignity during their lives. Sometimes we try to shelter our children from reality and that is a decision that each one of us needs to make for ourselves so I will be honest in this review. The story is about a piglet being mistreated in a large scale pork farm. It shows the lack of care and concern towards the animals. It is not sugar coated and points out many sad events that most pigs will and have endured. She luckily meets some incredible humans who are very loving and respectful. I do not want to tell how it ends but it will make you and your child happy. This story is based on a true story. I hope that this books inspires many others to speak out about the need for improvements in the meat industry.

Hope is a heart-rending story of a piglet's rescue from a factory farm's dumpster, where whe was left to die. She is taken to live in an animal sanctuary where she is given the care she needs, and makes other animal friends. It is based on a true story. The companion tape recording enhances the reading experience. My elementary school students request repeat readings of this book..

A charming story about Bearded Collie dogs, it especially speaks to all those dog-lovers of long-haired breeds. Full of personality and cute illustrations. Kids love it!

This delightful story is told in four-line rhyme that might bore some adults but will charm the 4-8 year old children for whom it written. The illustrations are beautiful, both colorful and engaging, and depict the animals with reasonable accuracy.

Based on a true story, the book relates the tale of a mated pair of South American Monk Parakeets (also called Quaker Parakeets) who find themselves captured and sent abroad with other Monk Parakeets as part of the pet trade.

That is, until a shipping crate breaks open in New York City and they find themselves liberated. Ruffle and Coo soon find themselves in Bridgeport, Connecticut. There, they find a suitable tree and begin to homestead, building their unique stick nests alongside their fellow escapees. (Monk Parakeets are the only parrots in the world that build an enclosed stick nest - looks like a squirrel nest on steroids.)

The tale then focuses on how the parrot colony survives a hurricane and the cold of a New England winter and what happens when a pair of Great Horned Owls (who raise a chick named Hoo Doo) takes over one of the Monk Parakeet nests.

Unfortunately, the book fails in some aspects of environmental education. The drawing of the Monk Parakeets shows them in a tropical jungle which is not where they occur and shows them living alongside Marmosets, Coral Snakes, and Ring-tailed Lemurs. Very nice, except that Marmosets are strictly tropical and don't live in the same regions in which Monk Parakeets live. Coral Snakes and Lemurs aren't even found in South America. Coral Snakes are native to North America and Lemurs are found exclusively in Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa.

That aside, it depicts the Monk Parakeets and their introduction to North America pretty accurately. Acts of predation are also included, so the gritty reality of life in the wild isn't ignored.

Ruffle, Coo and Hoo Doo is published by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) as part of their Animal Tales book series. The HSUS Animal Tales foster animal protection and environmental preservation in young children. All are based on true stories and a portion of the book sales is donated to HSUS.