Animal Heroes

 Books

Read about animals that find, rescue, lead, befriend and protect other humans and animals. Some perform this job regularly, whereas others have performed heroic feats at times of disaster. Meet dogs that have uncovered people buried by rubble during wartime bombing, a dog that rescued someone lost in a cave labyrinth, and a dog called Ginny that rescues cats that have been abandoned or injured. There are also pigs, cats and other animal heroes and community helpers. The book has full-colour photos and questions that aid comprehension – in the Connectors series for younger readers.


Author's Comments

Writing Animal Heroes gave me a chance to talk about some of the great things that animals do for us. It astounds me how many times animals have rescued people during avalanches, earthquakes and wartime, but it was the personal stories of animals showing empathy for other animals and humans that touched me most when researching this book. There are many animals that regularly help as companion animals when people are sick or upset, when they're learning to read, can't see or hear, and when they visit people in prison. If you have a pet, you probably already know what a good friend it can be and how it can make you feel better when you're sick or miserable. I've always felt that there's more of a connection between people and animals than we realise. This book is about celebrating the situations where people and animals work together to do something great.


Reading Activity
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Find out whether companion animals are used in your community, at the hospital or in schools and libraries, helping children and adults with reading. Perhaps you can visit and take photos for a school project or for the local newspaper.
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Do you know about any famous animal heroes? How many stories can you find? See if you can find out about any animal heroes in your own town.
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Learn as much as you can about the breeds of dog that are best for certain types of rescue jobs. What makes them special? Why do you think some dogs make good guide dogs, whereas others are good trackers and some are great therapy dogs?
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Find out about people who are heroes in their work for animals, such as Dian Fossey who spent her life fighting to protect the mountain gorilla, or The Graf Boys who try to stop 1080 poison drops in New Zealand, which kill pest animals but also kill untargeted animals such as deer and native birds.
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Read true and fictional stories about special animals like the ones below.

Wringer Charlotte's Web Animal Heroes: True Rescue Stories
Click on these images to buy these books by other authors at Fishpond


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Animal Heroes Animal Heroes
Connector Series
Scholastic, 2007
ISBN 978-1-877453-46-5
Where to buy this book
 
Reciprocal Teaching
 
"The original reciprocal teaching model was developed by Palincsar and Brown (1984). They found that when reciprocal teaching was used with a group of students for just fifteen to twenty days, the students' reading on a comprehension assessment increased from 30 percent to 80 percent. The students were also able to function more independently in the classroom, were able to summarise verbally, write contextually accurate summaries, predict questions and detect incongruities in texts. Not only did the students show these improvements in English and literature, they also improved their test scores in science and social studies on an average from 20 percent to 50 to 60 percent."