All Curtis wants is a dog. At the animal shelter, Curtis falls in love with Sammy, a friendly puppy with curly black fur, floppy ears, a wagging tail, and perfect white teeth. He's the best dog in the whole world. At home, things are different-Sammy steals food and chews sneakers and toys-but Curtis loves him anyway. Then Sammy bites Curtis's mom, and Curtis has to face the fact that Sammy's not perfect after all. Will Curtis have to give Sammy up? Or will he do whatever it takes to keep his dog?

Small Is the New Big In this humorous, insistent book, Pastor Ed Gungor demonstrates that the world is changed most by ordinary people—the "small dogs" of the human race. Small dogs may not run the world, but neither can the world tune them out. If it weren’t for small dogs, the world might be a quieter place, but it would certainly be a needier one. With chapters like "Dare to Be Small," "Fight the Big-Dog Lie," and "The Bark of Faith," Gungor challenges the notion that earthly prominence, status, and power are essential to significance. Reminding us that small is the new big, he inspires us to fall in love with life—the everyday, normal kind—and shows us how to make an eternal difference. Living a Life That’s Hard to Ignore The thing about small, barking dogs is that they can’t be ignored. They may not be show-dog material or win outstanding awards, but through their persistence and insistence they make themselves known. Only a handful of people ever achieve notoriety and "greatness," but the energizing truth of One Small Barking Dog is that every single one of us can change the world. New York Times bestselling author Ed Gungor debunks the big-dog lie and clearly teaches "ordinary" people how to live out their faith in a way that not only changes the world we live in now but that affects lives for eternity. By the time you finish this book, you won’t be worried about being small. You’ll be ready to take on the world. You’ll know how to live a life that can’t be ignored. Whether you’ve just graduated from school or you’ve been at this life for many years, Ed Gungor’s concrete principles and simple life wisdom will show you new ways to make a big impact on your world.

When a campaign is initiated during the 1950's to annihilate the dogs of China as a famine-fighting measure, a boy tries to save his little dog.

Psychiatrists define cruelty to animals as a psychological problem or personality disorder. Legally, animal cruelty is described by a list of behaviors. In Just a Dog, Arnold Arluke argues that our current constructs of animal cruelty are decontextualized—imposed without regard to the experience of the groups committing the act. Yet those who engage in animal cruelty have their own understandings of their actions and of themselves as actors. In this fascinating book, Arluke probes those understandings and reveals the surprising complexities of our relationships with animals. Just a Dog draws from interviews with more than 250 people, including humane agents who enforce cruelty laws, college students who tell stories of childhood abuse of animals, hoarders who chronically neglect the welfare of many animals, shelter workers who cope with the ethics of euthanizing animals, and public relations experts who use incidents of animal cruelty for fundraising purposes. Through these case studies, Arluke shows how the meaning of "cruelty" reflects and helps to create identities and ideologies.

One Small Starfish is a deep and compassionate story of one mother's struggle and triumph to raise a child beyond what the world thought he could be. Anne's insight and sensitivity to the impact that an exceptional child can have on the other children in the family, on the relationship between husband and wife, and on the parents as individuals is addressed throughout the book. The journey of raising special children comes vividly alive in the personal stories of a family that evolved from being run by a child with special needs to steering a course where life's true lessons often came through one special child. Book jacket.

Geared to the millions who want to be socially responsible with their dogs, but also indulgent with them, who love to be up to date about the latest ideas about training, but above all, who worry about their relationships with their dogs, this poignant, irreverent guide is doggone funny. Written by a first-time dog owner who's been there and worried about that, this comprehensive yet accessible book articulates the questions that many people have about all things canine-related but are afraid to ask, all with a reassuring, amusing tone.

First published in 1878, A Voyage in the Sunbeam is a journal detailing the Brassey family’s voyage around the world. Annie Brassey delights in the mild Tahitian and Hawaiian breezes, shivers in the Japanese cold, and swelters in the Arabian heat. She struggles to keep down her breakfast sailing through the Straits of Magellan, and boldly marches her children up to the caldera of an active Hawaiian volcano. She suffers many hardships, but Brassey is undaunted, retaining a childlike wonder in the sights she sees. Contains hand-drawn illustrations from Hon. A. Y. Bingham.