Pursuing your passion includes a whole lot of crap. For Bud DeYoung, that’s about two hundred pounds a day! Since childhood, Bud had a passion for animals. As an adult, that passion led to the rescue of a bear who lived in his family’s house, then more animals crowding for space, until Bud eventually built an entire private zoo around his home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Along the way, a regular visitor named Carrie joined her passion for animals with Bud’s. Together they now educate the public about animal conservation, battle the harsh winters and blazing summers, and daily dole out love to the hundreds of rescued animals in their care. Meanwhile, they teach by example how to make the world a better place while pursuing their passion. Welcome to the fascinating, heartwarming journey of one man, one woman, and an amazing cast of critters, whose stories will warm your soul. Welcome to the wild life of the DeYoung Family Zoo.

The remarkable true story of a family who move into a rundown zoo-already a BBC documentary miniseries and excerpted in The Guardian. In the market for a house and an adventure, Benjamin Mee moved his family to an unlikely new home: a dilapidated zoo in the English countryside. Mee had a dream to refurbish the zoo and run it as a family business. His friends and colleagues thought he was crazy. But in 2006, Mee and his wife with their two children, his brother, and his 76-year-old mother moved into the Dartmoor Wildlife Park. Their extended family now included: Solomon, an African lion and scourge of the local golf course; Zak, the rickety Alpha wolf, a broadly benevolent dictator clinging to power; Ronnie, a Brazilian tapir, easily capable of killing a man, but hopelessly soppy; and Sovereign, a jaguar and would-be ninja, who has devised a long term escape plan and implemented it. Nothing was easy, given the family's lack of experience as zookeepers, and what follows is a magical exploration of the mysteries of the animal kingdom, the power of family, and the triumph of hope over tragedy. We Bought a Zoo is a profoundly moving portrait of an unforgettable family living in the most extraordinary circumstances.

'With characteristic self-effacement, she puts the escapades of charismatic animals ahead of her own feelings.' The Guardian. When George Mottershead moved to the village of Upton-by-Chester in 1930 to realise his dream of opening a zoo without bars, his four-year-old daughter June had no idea how extraordinary her life would become. Soon her best friend was a chimpanzee called Mary, lion cubs and parrots were vying for her attention in the kitchen, and finding a bear tucked up in bed was no more unusual than talking to a tapir about granny's lemon curd. Pelican, penguin or polar bear - for June, they were simply family. The early years were not without their obstacles for the Mottersheads. They were shunned by the local community, bankruptcy threatened and then World War Two began. Nightly bombing raids turned the dream into a nightmare and finding food for the animals became a constant challenge. Yet George's resilience, resourcefulness and tenacity eventually paid off. Now over 80 years since June first set foot in the echoing house, Chester Zoo has achieved worldwide renown. Here, in her enthralling memoir, June Mottershead chronicles the heartbreak, the humour, the trials and triumphs, above all the characters, both human and animal, who shaped her childhood.

Now with a new afterword! A five star–reviewed, unforgettable story that bestselling author Homer Hickam calls “one of the most eloquent, moving, irresistible true stories” he’s ever read. The Waiting will touch your heart and make you believe in love’s enduring legacy, as well as the power of prayer. In 1928, 16-year-old Minka was on a picnic in the woods when she was assaulted and raped. And suddenly this innocent farm girl—who still thought the stork brought babies—was pregnant. The story that follows has been almost a hundred years in the making. After a lifetime of separation, Minka whispered an impossible prayer for the first time: Lord, I’d like to see Betty Jane before I die. What happened next was a miracle. Written by Cathy LaGrow (Minka’s granddaughter), The Waiting brings three generations of this most unusual family together over the course of a century in a story of faith that triumphs, forgiveness that sets us free, and love that never forgets. (As seen on The Today Show.)

Every school has its share of bookworms. Some schools have bugs in their computers. And lots of schools have spelling bees. But this school has bears. This school has owls. This school is a ZOO! Imagination runs wild in this fun-filled story about a school packed with pythons, teeming with tigers, and swimming with starfish. Stu Smith's lively text and David Catrow's hilarious art will have kids looking at school -- and words -- in a whole new way!

"For the first time, a historian of science draws evidence from across the world to show how humans and other animals are astonishingly similar when it comes to their feelings and the ways in which they lose their minds"--

When little Lulu gets an idea, watch out! After a chat with the animals at the zoo, she sneaks all of the animals into her house, where “there’s room for you all, from elephant to mouse.” Or so she thinks, until she tries to fit a bear into the bathtub . . . Before the zookeepers can bring the animals back to the zoo, though, bold Lulu dreams up a new place for her animal friends to live. And four-year-olds can be very persuasive. Children will love this rollicking, read-aloud tale matched by hilarious illustrations.

Provides a history of zoos, examines the faults of zoos, and argues for their dissolution.

Provides a behind-the-scenes look at zoo animals and describes how zookeepers care for, train, and interact with the animals who live there.--

Jax Cooper lives a comfortable life, maybe too comfortable. Born into a powerful family. Jax is the son of the largest mogul in the world. As a journalist for The Globe, he takes on a unique, self-assigned piece: to investigate his father's empire, The Human Zoo. Disguised as one of the animals and stripped of his identity, wealth, and eugenic luxuries, Jax is challenged by what it means to be human when he meets Priya.Born into the zoo's captivity, Priya has only known two things; she does not belong here, and she will do anything to escape, but freedom always seemed impossible until an unusual new animal, Jax, arrives.A gripping investigation turned life changing, Jax is forced to make a decision. Will he risk dismantling society by exposing who-or what-being an animal means...or succumb to his only living protection, his family's empire?