Thank you for your interest in humane education! Welcome!

The Humane Education Ambassador Reader (HEAR) program program is built upon the statement, “I’m learning about animals” and the question, “What are animals learning about me?” We believe strengthening the human-animal bond will help us in UAN's mission of “Bringing animals out of crisis and into care” by preventing and mitigating the types of crises that require emergency assistance.

On November 3rd, UAN collaborated with Sacramento's Time Tested Books to launch the HEAR program. Joe Hyatt, the illustrator of Buddy Unchained, attended as a special guest with his dog Turtle, the inspiration for Buddy. Buddy Unchained is one of six books we will use in the HEAR program. Visit our suggested reading list to see all of the HEAR books, plus others that we recommend for their focus on the human-animal bond.

We look forward to training HEAR volunteers who believe stories engage the imagination and foster empathy, and who would like to bring stories and discussion to children in classrooms, bookstores, libraries and animal shelters across the United States and in Canada. In 2008, we are planning volunteer training workshops in Sacramento, California; Washington, DC; and Vancouver, British Columbia.

On this forum, please share the challenges and successes you see for humane education in your neighborhoods.

Please share ideas for increasing awareness of relationships among pets and people in your communities.

Let's get the conversation going!

Hello. Can you direct me to a good place to order the books you recommend? I believe they will be good to use in the Education program my local Humane Society already has in place.
Thanks

Hi,
I haven't checked for the specific books that are on the list but I've found great bargains for books at www.half.com Ebay also is a great place to look. Good luck finding them!
Beth

Thank you for the tip, Beth!

A Home for Nathan is also available directly from The William Snyder Foundation for Animals in Baltimore, MD. Buddy Unchained and Max Talks to Me are also available directly from The Gryphon Press.

The Snyder Foundation offers a guide for Nathan and The Gryphon Press offers a guide for Max Talks to Me.

Volunteers who complete the Humane Education Ambassador Reader program training receive the UAN discussion guides and ongong training in implementing the program. Please let us know if you would like us to bring a HEAR training to your community!

And please share titles of other books that might fit the HEAR program or be helpful for other humane education programs! We are especially looking for illustrated books that tell the story of the bonds between cats and people.

Thank you both -- Vanda and Beth -- for sharing your ideas!

I can't wait for the training class. I do have a book I highly recommend, it's called Demo, the Junkyard Dog and it's really wonderful example of anti-discrimination, the relationship between a boy and his dog, and even some digs at society and our greed. It's full of great messages and would be so nice to see in all the schools. I bought an extra copy for the little elementary school by my house.

www.demo-dog.com and you can find out more. The author is really nice and you can email him and learn more. He's working on another book too.

Becky

Dear Becky,

Thank you for the book suggestion. I checked out the Web site and the book seems really lively. I look forward to reading it!

Donating books with a humane message to local schools is one of the best ways to help share information about animals and people in communities. Thank you for passing that along.

- Alexa

Alexa:

Our bar association is starting a Humane Education program. We represent children in delinquency cases and serve as guardian ad litems in the child abuse cases. Some of us also represent parents. We call ourselves Counselors for Critters and have sponsored adoption events for the shelters. I have done humane education previously for 5 years, along with my cat Simon who has paralyzed back legs. I am very interested in the HEAR program and would like to do that in our community---either at a school or residential treatment center. How do we get started and are you planning a workshop in the Denver, Colorado metro area any time soon. Thanks Diana

Dear Diana,

Thank you for your interest in the HEAR program! It sounds like a great fit with the work you are doing.

We are always evaluating where we can bring the HEAR day-long workshops. Please sign-up on the interest list to bring a workskhop to Denver.

HEAR interest list

Please send me an e-mail at amergen@uan.org anytime, too, to discuss how we can share ideas to help meet your needs in the meantime.

Alexa

quote:

And please share titles of other books that might fit the HEAR program or be helpful for other humane education programs! We are especially looking for illustrated books that tell the story of the bonds between cats and people.

This one would be for slightly older kids (4-6 grade?) but i have always loved "Socks", I think it's by Beverly Clearly. Its told from the cats point of view. It starts with a street corner free to a good home kitten give-away, where Socks almost goes to a home where he would have been abused by the kids and kicked out when they got tired of him. Fortunatly he is adopted by a couple who take good care of him. Later he feels displaced by the new baby, and is dumped outside when he starts acting out because of it. All these are good discussion points on what a cat needs, and how misbehaving is not spite, but trying to cope with something it doesn't understand or communicate to you that something is wrong. I live close to the inner city, and often when neighborhood kids see one of my cats out on a leash, the reaction is not "Ooh! Can I pet the cat?", but "Is that cat mean?" It was an awakening to me about the different social attitudes toward cats, and how kids need to be taught that if a cat hisses, it is not malicious, it's scaired.

Dear Karen,

Thank you for the book suggestion. When I read your post I was reminded of "Socks" which I read a long time ago. I'm going to check it out of the library and revisit it! Thank you!

You also reminded me of one of my all-time favorite cat books that I have carried around from house to house since I was a kid. The book is "J.T." by Jane Wagner and has photos from Gordon Parks, Jr. The book was published in 1969 and might be out of print. It's for grades 5 and up as the story is sad at points: a boy in an inner city neighborhood finds a stray cat and cares for him lovingly only to have the cat teased by neighborhood bullies. Along the way a few adults learn about the power of the cat-person bond, too.

Thanks for sharing your ideas!

Alexa

Suggestion: You might want to work with Dog Fancy and Cat Fancy Magazines. Write them an artical about what we are trying to do with the Humane Education Program, and ask readers for their suggestions of suitable books. This could also help publicise the program.

Dear Karen,

Thank you for the suggestion! I'd like to get the word out about the HEAR program through multiple avenues! Letters to the editor of magazines and newspapers will be helpful too.

Volunteer with UAN and other animal advocacy groups practice humane education on a daily basis, I believe, especially in those spontaneous "teachable moments" like you describe with walking your cat. Awareness spreads person-to-person!

Thank you for helping the animals by sharing ideas.

Alexa

Hi,
My name is Aurelia Garcia and I am the After School Program Manager at Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services. Last Thursday, September 18th we were fortunate to have Becky, a HEAR volunteer come to read to our 4th-6th graders.

The children shared that it was fun learning about how to understand and communicate with dogs via their body language. The story of Max Talks to Me touched many of our children. They enjoyed the opportunity to shared their personal experiences about their own pets. The group dicussions provided a time of reflection on their own pets behavior and body language. It also reminded the children about their own personal connection and bond they have and/or had with their pet.

Below are some of the children's comments about their experience:

"It was fun leaning about dogs." Saray, 4th grader

"I enjoyed it. I got to talk about my own dog. I wish they can come every single day." Williams, 5th grader

"I liked it because I have a dog in Mexico. I felt sad because my dog is so far away." Cynthia, 6th grader

On behalf of all the children, Thank you!

Aurelia Garcia
Child Services Program Manager
Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services
(916)456-1980

Join me in congratulating HEAR volunteer Katrina for winning a free copy of Lucky Boy by Susan Boase!

Katrina won the free HEAR book drawing that UAN held for all volunteers who submitted reports about their HEAR visits. Katrina has reported a total of 25 HEAR visits since May 1, 2008.

When I called Katrina to tell her she had won, she was very excited and said Lucky Boy was her favorite of the HEAR books. Visit our suggested reading list to see all of the HEAR books plus others that highlight the animal-people bond.

Please feel free to discuss and recommend other books that focus on the bond between animals and people and that promote kindness toward animals.

Can't wait to "hear" from you,

-Karly

Hi Y'all,

I don't know if this book recommendation should go in this discussion or one of the others. In any case, the Animal Welfare Institute recently published "Pablo Puppy's Search for the Perfect Person" -- see http://awionline.aorchidsuites...ails/id/4313/pid/217 . The story line is almost the same as "Let's Get a Pup! Said Kate" and it adds a multicultural dimension to the characters instead of the same old demographic we see over and over again in most of the stories. Plus, the illustrations are absolutely glorious -- full-color bleeds on every page, and text that's printed in many directions, not just left-to-right linear. I absolutely love the creativity of the presentation!

At the very least, I hope to see this title added to the recommended reading list, and ideally added to the official HEAR list. Right now the book is available only through AWI.

b j

Education Director at the Montgomery County Humane Society, Rockville, MD

Thank you for recommending Pablo Puppy's Search for the Perfect Person by Sheila Hamanaka b j. United Animal Nations (UAN) has a copy and I agree with you that it is a wonderful story much like the "Let's Get a Pup!" said Kate that we currently use in the HEAR program. And, yes, the illustrations in Pablo Puppy's Search for a Perfect Person depict the beautiful diversity within our society. We are currently working on adding this book to UAN's Suggested Reading List. We are always looking for great stories that illustrate the bond between animals and people. Keep those suggestions coming! Please post future recommendations on the Suggested Reading List Ideas forum.

Thanks again!

-Karly

Pablo Puppy's Search for the Perfect Person by Sheila Hamanaka is now part of UAN's Suggested Reading List. It is a wonderful addition!

Happy reading!

-Karly