Books

Do barks and neighs, meows and chirps, have a special meaning, possibly a syntax of sorts? Jean Craighead George is convinced that by studying carefully horse snorts, dog tail semaphores, cats’ meows and many more such signals we can talk to our animals.

Invite your dog to play by getting down on all fours and slapping the ground. Talk to your cat with your eyes – Jean Craighead George will tell you how to read a cat’s facial expressions. Learn what the nine positions of a horse’s tail mean – when he’s afraid, about to bite, and when he’s contented. Reassure a bird in nest murmurs. Study the author’s chirp and meow charts and document your dog’s development on a social progress schedule.

Combining comic anecdote and startling new research and illustrated with the author’s own line drawings, How to Talk to Your Animals will win over the most hardened sceptic and enable all animal lovers to improve communications with their pets.

Jean Craighead George is a naturalist/writer and winner of the Newbery Medal for her children’s book, Julie of the Wolves. She lives in Chappaqua, New York.

Paperback.