War Animals

Living in West Berlin in the 1960s often felt like living in a zoo, everyone packed together behind a wall, with the world always watching. On the other side of the Iron Curtain, the East Berlin zoo was spacious and lush, a socialist utopia where everything was perfectly planned...and then rarely successfully finished. Berlin’s two zoos quickly became symbols of the divided city’s two halves. So no one was terribly surprised when the head zookeepers on either side started an animal arms race - rather than stockpiling nuclear warheads, competing to have the most pandas and hippos.

A genetically enhanced leopard. He serves in the Federation Compact Army for one purpose. To go where it is too dangerous to send "real" soldiers. Hannibal is one of a four-animal team. A human warrant officer controls them because their free will has been bred, trained, and cut out them. They need orders to follow. Except Hannibal feels the call of the wild. It's starting to clash with his programming. He is reverting, but has to hide it unless he wants to be executed, his brain dissected to see what went wrong. The gods of war smile upon the enemy, bringing Hannibal's internal struggle ...

In 2012 retired South African general Johan Jooste was parachuted into the seemingly unwinnable war against rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park. With poaching spiralling out of control, Jooste was given the mandate to 'go military', to convert Kruger's ranger corps into a para-military force capable of taking the fight to poachers. Aged 60, white, and a veteran of 35 years of military service, Jooste's controversial appointment was immediately met with resentment and hostility by elements of South African National Parks, the police, and even the military he had served with.

The author of the heartwarming Craig and Fred tells the deeply emotional and inspiring story of the next phase of their lives together: working closely with prison inmates in Maine who raise and train puppies to become service dogs. Second Chances poignantly shows that no life is irredeemable and that each of us can make a difference if given the opportunity.

A poignant World War II story about a boy and his dog and his dad, and the many meanings of bravery, from Newbery Honor author Kirby Larson. With World War II raging and his father fighting overseas in Europe, 11-year-old Hobie Hanson is determined to do his part to help his family and his country, even if it means giving up his beloved German shepherd, Duke. Hoping to help end the war and bring his dad home faster, Hobie decides to donate Duke to Dogs for Defense, an organization that urges Americans to "loan" their pets to the military.

In Top Dog, Maria Goodavage takes listeners into the life of Lucca K458, a decorated and highly skilled military working dog. An extraordinary bond developed between Lucca and Marine Corps handler Chris Willingham, launching what became a legendary 400-mission career. A Specialized Search Dog, Lucca belongs to an elite group trained to work off-leash at long distances from her handler.

When Prince Leo’s devious cousin seizes control of Singara, Leo is forced to escape into enemy territory until he can return and claim the throne. Trapped among his enemies, Leo discovers they know a lot more about him than he knows about himself. With some guidance from unlikely allies, Leo is poised to fulfill a destiny greater than he ever imagined. Can Leo harness his power, stop a war, and prevent a monstrous demon from escaping and destroying the world?

Before he became an archmage to topple an empire, before he met the legendary Eradicator Xal, Saghir was born a free ratkin, living on the streets of Gateway, a perilous desert city at the edge of the Blasted Lands. Each month, the free laborers must pay their tithe in coin, or blood. Every ratkin in Saghir's tribe searches for something of value, lest their whole people be enslaved. Ruthless Corax, carnivorous scarabs, and worse infest the city. There are countless ways for a rat to die, and all it takes is one mistake. There are no second chances.

April 1916, Germany: Anna Zeller, whose fiancé, Bruno, is fighting on the western front, works as a nurse at an overcrowded hospital in Oldenburg, trying to comfort men broken in body and spirit. But during a visit from Dr. Stalling, the director of the Red Cross Ambulance Dogs Association, she witnesses a rare spark of optimism: as a German shepherd guides a battle-blinded soldier over a garden path, Dr. Stalling is inspired with an idea-to train dogs as companions for sightless veterans.

From Newbery Honor author Kirby Larson comes the moving story of a young boy who, with a dad fighting in Europe and a sister working at the Higgins Boat factory, longs to have a dog of his own. Fish has a knack for inventing. His annoying neighbor, Olympia, has a knack for messing things up. But when his latest invention leads Fish to Liberty, a beautiful stray dog who needs a home, he and Olympia work together to rescue her.

In the deadly chaos of the First World War, one horse witnesses the reality of battle from both sides of the trenches. Bombarded by artillery, with bullets knocking riders from his back, Joey tells a powerful story of the truest friendships surviving in terrible times. One horse has the seen the best and the worst of humanity. The power of war and the beauty of peace. This is his story.

A book with lists of the top twenty most dangerous things with many categories. From animals to cites to military units and equipment, there are 81 lists of uniquely dangerous things.

Since the dawn of time, prehistoric shark clans called shivers have ruled over the earth's oceans. For eons, the Big Blue has prospered under Shiver Law, and the delicate balance of sea life kept sacred. Until now. When a young shark named Gray is exiled from the safety of his peaceful reef home, he and his best friend Barkley find themselves forced to venture out into open water. In the dangerous open ocean, the two friends learn that not all sharks are interested in upholding Shiver Law, and some sharks are even trying to destroy it.

Guinness may be the runt of the litter, but she scoffs at being a pet. So when her siblings join their forever homes, she can't wait to enlist and risk her tail for her country. Butter loves treats, cherishes her trainer, and is proud of her job. But an errant bullet ends her career and changes her life. Viper lives to serve. The army is his life and his home. But war is tough on soldiers, K-9s and humans, and old dogs don't last long in the desert. Can these loyal dogs dodge a sea of mines and outwit the brutal desert to protect their humans, or will their mission cost their lives?

A leading dog-blogger offers a tour of military working dogs' extraordinary training, heroic accomplishments, and the lasting impacts they have on those who work with them. Maria Goodavage here tells heartwarming stories of modern soldier dogs and the amazing bonds that develop between them and their handlers. Beyond tales of training, operations, retirement, and adoption into the families of fallen soldiers, Goodavage talks to leading dog-cognition experts about why dogs like nothing more than to be on a mission with a handler they trust.

New from Newbery Honor author Kirby Larson, the moving story of a Japanese American girl who is separated from her dog upon being sent to an incarceration camp during WWII. Although Mitsi Kashino and her family are swept up in the wave of anti-Japanese sentiment following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mitsi never expects to lose her home - or her beloved dog, Dash. But, as World War II rages and people of Japanese descent are forced into incarceration camps, Mitsi is separated from Dash, her classmates, and life as she knows it.

1944, and London is under attack. Young mouse Pip Hanway's safe and quiet world is turned upside down when her home, umbrella shop James Smith & Sons, is destroyed by a bomb. Orphaned and alone, she must begin a perilous quest to find a new home. But the only way to get there is by joining Noah’s Ark, a secret gang of animals fighting with the resistance in France, operating beneath the feet of the human soldiers. Danger is everywhere and as the enemy closes in, Pip must risk everything to save her new friends.

Klawde and Raj are back! As summer turns to fall, our favorite warlord cat remains in his pitiful exiled existence. But Raj has an even scarier prospect than cosmic exile: starting at a new school. If things didn't seem complicated enough, both cat and human are confronted with two figures from their past they did not expect to pop up in Elba, Oregon....

Two dozen Navy SEALs descended on Osama bin Laden’s compound in May 2011. After the mission, only one name was made public: Cairo, a Belgian Malinois and military working dog. Warrior Dog the story of Cairo and his handler, Will Chesney, a member of SEAL Team Six whose life would be irrevocably tied to Cairo's, specially adapted for young listeners from Chesney and Joe Layden's No Ordinary Dog.

He’s part bull. She's part lava. Together, they’re unstoppable. Carl Gray was a rodeo clown before a freak lightning storm fused him to a bull named El Diablo. Lavender is an islander whose mother is lava goddess and father is human. As a half-lava shape-shifter, she can mold her body at will. When the world receives a credible threat from a criminal mastermind named Villainous to destroy the human race, the United States government requests their help. Turns out, Villainous has managed to merge human intelligence with animal strength and speed, and such creatures are appearing all over...