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I have a doctorate in Applied Linguistics from New York University. I divulge this important fact because today could be the only day in my life that it might be relevant. My Ph.D. means that I studied how we humans learn, and how we learn how to learn. As an expert in learning, I can say that  Ingrid Newkirk’s book, 50 AWESOME WAYS KIDS CAN HELP ANIMALS (Warner), is a stunning achievement in the education of children–and everyone else–regarding our nonhuman friends.

Newkirk and her team of helpers thought of everything when composing this book. Sure, they deal with the obvious topics, such as food, clothing, animals in entertainment and "sports," animal testing, companion animals, various wildlife issues, fur, dissection, and rescuing animals.

But what’s most impressive is the presentation of the information. Newkirk provides a handful of different ways the reader might grasp the facts:

• Straight prose, accessible to both children and adults.
• Quick and painless facts in bullet form–but with paw prints rather than bullets.
• Anecdotes about how children have helped animals.
• Quizzes that make you laugh while you learn.
• Quotes by celebrities who kids know about.
• How to effectively voice your objection to something/get your voice heard.
• Action points–things the kids can do, including phone numbers, websites, and other resources.

The part of the content that I found especially compelling, was the discussion of self-expression. Newkirk suggests poetry, songs, painting, wearing stickers, and of course, writing to companies, local governments, and anyone else, to let the world know how you feel about animals and the way they should be treated.

As a linguist, I couldn’t possibly resist mentioning 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. (Clearly, I wasn’t the only one registering my discontent.)

In addition to explaining why you don’t want to say that someone "eats like a pig," 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, and writing to newspaper editors and asking them to adopt it, as well.

50 AWESOME WAYS KIDS CAN HELP ANIMALS is a must-read for every parent, child, and Animal Person. It’s like one-stop shopping for raising a compassionate child, and being a compassionate adult.

CONTEST: The first four (4) people to correctly answer the following question will win a copy of 50 AWESOME WAYS–

Which of the following is/are true?

I)    The average American will eat 21 cows, 1,400 chickens, 12 pigs, and 14 sheep in his or her lifetime.
II)    Red candy coloring is sometimes made from crushed beetle shells.
III)    Pretzels are sometimes glazed with animal pee.
IV)    For every person who comes into the world, 15 dogs and 45 cats are born.

A.    I and IV only
B.    I and II only
C.    III and IV only
D.    All of the above

E-mail your answer to mm@animalperson.net