50 Awesome Ways Kids Can Help Animals: Fun and Easy Ways to Be a Kind Kid

I bought this book for my niece, but I haven't given it to her yet because I wanted to read it first and see if I thought it was something she'd like. After reading most of it, I can say wholeheartedly that it is the perfect book for any child who cares about animals. The book is very easy to read, broken up with short chapters, lots of bulleted facts, quizzes, and boxes. The best thing about the book is that it takes kids' passion for animals and channels it into constructive ways they can help. For example, volunteering at the animal shelter, which is one of the book's suggestions, is a great way for kids to help animals and also helps educate them about important issues like spaying and neutering and being a responsible animal guardian. The book covers a lot of ground and will probably inspire some animated dinner table conversations, but I think it's a great way to make kids feel like they are active members of society who can make a difference.

As the mother of two young kids, I picked up a copy of 50 Awesome Ways Kids Can Help Animals to help me guide my children into becoming compassionate adults. This book has helped me talk to my kids about what happens to animals without scaring them, because, let's face it, what happens to animals before and during slaughter is frightening to most adults, let alone to children. It's a great book full of fun facts that kids enjoy learning and it teaches kids to view animals not as objects, but as living, feeling beings that deserve our respect.

I came across this book while browsing at the bookstore and bought a copy for my stepdaughter, who is a big animal lover. What a great resource! It's full of fun facts about animals, easy activities that kids can do on their own (or with a little adult supervision), quotes from kids' favorite celebrities, quizzes, puzzles, and lots more. This might be just the thing to get kids to put down the video games and pick up a book! I'll definitely be buying copies for all of the young people on my Christmas list.

As an expert in learning--I have a doctorate in Applied Linguistics--I highly recommend a new book for children, 50 AWESOME WAYS KIDS CAN HELP ANIMALS, by Ingrid Newkirk. It is a great way to educate children--and everyone else--about our nonhuman friends. As a linguist, I especially enjoyed Chapter 36, "Critter Chatter," which begins: "Words we say, hear, and read have a powerful effect on us and how we see others. Sometimes people develop bad feelings about animals simply from the words they use." After September 11, I spent entire days writing to politicians I saw on television who said things like: "We're gonna find the animals who did this," as if animals would ever plot and execute something like coordinated attacks using commercial jets. And you know something? After a couple of months, the language our politicians used changed dramatically. Newkirk raises a rare topic that, for me, is at the heart of our problems with animals: We refer to them as things. "The dog was hungry, so I fed it." When we're comfortable using language that defines animals as objects, it's much easier to accept treating them as objects. Newkirk suggests not only using the language of individuals (him and her), but asking other people to adopt it, too. I urge every parent and child to read 50 AWESOME WAYS KIDS CAN HELP ANIMALS. It's like one-stop shopping for raising a compassionate child, and being a compassionate adult.

I'm 4/5 of the way through this book but I can say without a doubt it is a helpful resource for parents who want their kids to develop empathy and social responsibility. I especially appreciate the practical, simple tips like how to start an animal kindness club, which provides kids with a way to develop leadership skills. Very easy to read and engaging for young minds.