Beyond Words: What Wolves and Dogs Think and Feel

Carl Safina's "Beyond Words" is an eye-opening adaptation for young readers, exploring the complex thoughts and feelings of wolves and dogs, with some references to elephants and whales. Drawing on decades of field research and new brain discoveries, the book uses triumphant and heartbreaking stories, particularly from Yellowstone's wolf population, alongside personal anecdotes about dogs. It delves into animal joy, grief, anger, and love, encouraging readers to reexamine human-animal interactions and our place in the natural world. This chapter book is ideal for ages 4-11, offering a rich, engaging nonfiction experience.

Eye-opening, wise, and filled with triumphant and heartbreaking stories about the wolf population at Yellowstone (as well as some personal anecdotes about dogs), Beyond Words: What Wolves and Dogs Think and Feel accessibly explores the mysteries of animal thought and behavior for young readers. Weaving decades of field research with exciting new discoveries about the brain, and complete with astonishing photos, Beyond Words offers an extraordinary look at what makes these animals different from us, but more importantly, what makes them similar, namely, their feelings of joy, grief, anger, and love. These similarities between human and nonhuman consciousness and empathy allow the reader to reexamine how we interact with animals as well as how we see our own place in the world.