100 Pages A Day...Stephanie's Book Reviews

Among Animals 2 is a collection of short stories that examines the varied relationships between humans and animals. With a mix of contemporary fiction, historical stories, dystopian and science fiction, many different aspects of these relationships are able to be captured. Some of these stories will make you uncomfortable, some are sweet and comforting, all will make you think about the relationships humans share with animals that are pets, in captivity, on farms or in the wild and how our actions affect them.

Some stories that affected me were:

Phoenix Cross looks into factory farming of chickens and genetic engineering. Some of us may know exactly the horrid conditions in which factory farmed chickens are raised, we might ignore it, we may not care, some of us might choose free-range chickens. Phoenix Cross brings out not only the effects of this method on the chickens, but on the farmers as well. I loved the connection of boy and bird in this story and the bird's point of view really made me think about how our food gets to us.

Exotic Animal Alert: Please Post Widely inspects caretakers and zoo animals as well as the close bond one might form with an animal that is truly wild. Again, an animal point of view was used in order to empathize with the clouded leopard point of view. What I found most interesting was the differing opinions about Sokar the clouded leopard formed by the husband and wife who raised him and how Sokar's presence impacted their relationship.

A Normal Rabbit is the story of a family and their ordinary pet rabbit, Camper. Camper is a symbol for many things in the family, but most of all Camper's presence is able to elicit responses of empathy for other living things.

Overall, an interesting compilation of stories that will hopefully make readers reexamine their relationships with the animals and environment around them.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.