INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An incredible, revolutionary true story and surprisingly simple guide to teaching your dog to talk from speech-language pathologist Christina Hunger, who has taught her dog, Stella, to communicate using simple paw-sized buttons associated with different words. When speech-language pathologist Christina Hunger first came home with her puppy, Stella, it didn’t take long for her to start drawing connections between her job and her new pet. During the day, she worked with toddlers with significant delays in language development and used Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices to help them communicate. At night, she wondered: If dogs can understand words we say to them, shouldn’t they be able to say words to us? Can dogs use AAC to communicate with humans? Christina decided to put her theory to the test with Stella and started using a paw-sized button programmed with her voice to say the word “outside” when clicked, whenever she took Stella out of the house. A few years later, Stella now has a bank of more than thirty word buttons, and uses them daily either individually or together to create near-complete sentences. How Stella Learned to Talk is part memoir and part how-to guide. It chronicles the journey Christina and Stella have taken together, from the day they met, to the day Stella “spoke” her first word, and the other breakthroughs they’ve had since. It also reveals the techniques Christina used to teach Stella, broken down into simple stages and actionable steps any dog owner can use to start communicating with their pets. Filled with conversations that Stella and Christina have had, as well as the attention to developmental detail that only a speech-language pathologist could know, How Stella Learned to Talk will be the indispensable dog book for the new decade.

Her name is Stella. She loves sunshine and fresh bagels, and absolutely hates space travel. She's a rookie cop, making her way in a 25th Century world complicated by Universal Legal Care and automation taxes. Cornered by a villainous conspiracy, she is trapped aboard an antique star-liner mockingly called the City of One. There she finds new friends, intrigue, and the fight of her life. Cyborg warriors from a long-forgotten colony threaten her, the ship, and civilized space. Is this the end of everything? Not if Stella can help it!

A vivdly-written novel with a strong main character - a girl of mixed race in Victorian London. The author, herself of mixed race, has written sensitively on these topics before.Stella works as a stage clairvoyant, taught the tricks of the trade by Nana, her guardian. When Nana dies suddenly, Stella is left alone to fend for herself, battling against those who try to cheat her and eventually finding out the truth about her own, unknown parents.Catherine R Johnson is establishing a name for writing about mixed-race teenagers - her previous book, Hero, published simultaneously in B-format, deals with slavery and prejudice, also in a historical context. She lives in East London and is Book Trust's Children's Literature Co-ordinator forLondon, Writer in Residence at Holloway Prison, and a holder of a Royal Literary Fellowship.