The Newf and The Dane Book

This is an excellent non-fiction book for kids. It's not for the faint hearted though and I would suggest that any adult who wants to take zoo trips (at least to the vast majority of zoos) with children not give this book to them. If those children can feel any empathy at all they either won't want to go or will have a lousy time when they're there. On the other hand, if you want to get an apathetic kid who loves animals galvanized, this is the book for them.

When I was a young child I spent more Saturday mornings at the zoo with my father than I can count. Because of this I thought normal tiger behavior was for them to pace back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. I loved Penny the elephant because she was born on my exact birthday, but it wasn't until I was older that I saw zoos as sad places and believed that Penny was not living a happy life. As a young adult I once took a behind the scenes evening tour at a marine & land animal park that advertised what a paradise it was for the animals and during open hours that seemed so, but during the tour the elephants were in a barren barn with their legs on a very short chain, the tigers were in small crates, etc. so nothing in this book came as a surprise.

Laidlaw gives the facts about various kinds of zoos and other places that keep captive animals, tells interesting stories about normal and not so normal lives for various animals, and gives a call to action for children to become activists for captive animals. It really is an animal rights book for children. It's also an interesting nature book, and it has a lot of photos of animals both in captivity and those living in the wild or at sanctuaries. A few uplifting stories are told, of animals that were once in zoos and were moved to sanctuaries or freed to the wild, and about how their lives improved. The author does make a distinction between horrible and better designed zoos and impressed me as being reasonable, but mostly he's just very passionate about the welfare of the animals.

The back of the book has a list of animal welfare organizations, a glossary, and an index.

This book was very difficult for me to read and I almost skipped reading it when I saw its contents; I did feel devastated at parts but I did enjoy reading the sections describing animals in their natural habitats. I recommend this book for only older children in most instances.