Horsepower

Grand Theft Horse by G. Neri [illus. by Corban Wilkin]
New York : Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books Inc., [2018]
220 p. : chiefly ill. ; 22 cm.

This is a beautiful story of a courageous woman who is a gifted horse trainer and takes a stand against the abusive horse racing industry in California.  The core of the story is the sacrifices she makes and the injustices she endures to uphold her commitment to the decent treatment of a horse under her care.   

The book tells the story of her life, and of how she got entangled with an absolutely horrid lawyer who helped her buy a race horse with exceptional potential, but then wanted her to exploit it for short term profits.  When she defies him, he spends years and gobs of money trying to ruin her.

This graphic novel is really a deep delve into what does it mean to have a meaningful life.  It asks the reader to really consider what is success, what is valuable, what is right and wrong. 

I liked this book a lot, but found it a little hard to get into at first.  I worry that it's beginning might discourage young adult readers, but I will definitely recommend it to those who want something more from their graphic novel than just adventure.     

Wolves Where?

A Dog in the Cave: The Wolves Who Made Us Human by Kay Frydenborg
Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017.
ix, 246 p. : ill. (some col.), maps (some col.) ; 24 cm. 

The details (pages, illus, etc) above are for the print version which we have in our library, though the version I read was the eBook edition through the Axis360 collection that our library provides. Yes, that means I read it on my little cell phone - and it's not a bad experience.

This book offers a lot to think about.  Probably the most interesting thing about A Dog in the Cave, is how it really got me to see how incredibly unique the human-dog relationship is in the history of animals on the planet.  Here the author introduces us to the mutually beneficial relationship between two sentient apex-predators and how that relationship has shaped - though evolution - who we both are.  It's a pretty crazy thing to think about. 

A for instance?  Well, consider that humans and dogs both experience the endorphin pleasure in their brains from gazing at each other.  Or consider that unlike the extremely intelligent wolf, only dogs can solve a guessing game by following the glance cues of humans.  Essentially, Frydenborg is arguing that by entering into a cooperative alliance with humans some 40,000 years ago the original wild proto-dog wolf began evolving traits that made it more suitable to be with humans, AND humans began evolving traits that make us ideal companions to dogs.  Pretty neat stuff.

There's a lot of ground that gets covered in this book and anyone interested in dogs, paleontology, evolution or human-animal relationships will find something to enjoy here.