Courageous Canine: And More True Stories of Amazing Animal Heroes

by Kelly Milner Halls, Becky Baines (Editor)

National Geographic Kids Chapter books pick up where the best-selling National Geographic Readers series leaves off, offering young animal lovers who are ready for short chapters lively, true stories just right to carry in your backpack, share with your friends, and read under the covers at night.

Follow along as National Geographic Kids Chapters' presents a trio of true stories about incredible acts of animal heroism. Courageous Canine features an amazing pup named Lilly who sacrifices her own life to save her owner, a brave pod of dolphins who face a great white shark to save a stranger, and a mother gorilla, who in mourning her own baby, saves a 3-year-old boy who falls into her zoo enclosure. Filled with gorgeous photographs, sidebars, and fun facts, Courageous Canine will leave young readers hungry for more.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, Science, Childrens, Juvenile, Dogs

116 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 9, 2013

About the author

Kelly Milner Halls specializes in high interest, well researched nonfiction for young readers. Her books include TALES OF THE CRYPTIDS, SAVING THE BAGHDAD ZOO, IN SEARCH OF SASQUATCH and ALIEN INVESTIGATION. But she is also an avid YA fan and loves realistic fiction including GIRL MEETS BOY, the anthology she edited for Chronicle (January 2012). Her first short story is in that anthology. She hopes it won't be her last. When she's not writing or doing school visits, she works for her friend and mentor Chris Crutcher in Spokane.

Reviews

[Tima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Animals can be just as courageous as humans. And often their heroic deeds are rescuing the humans that they love. The author has taken three different types of animals and tells the stories of the heroic rescues they accomplished. Meet Lilly, the pit bull who rescued her human mom from a train. There are also dolphins who rescue swimmers from sharks, and gorillas who rescue small children when they fall. Written in chapter form, the stories are simple and easy for a child to read, but interesting enough to capture an adult's attention. Pictures are spread through the book for visual aid. Brightly colored borders add interest to every page and help divide each chapter. Any words that might be a bit difficult are sounded out in parenthesis. Little bullet points throughout each chapter provide addition information about the animals. The stories are a beautiful way to bring children closer to their pets and show just how amazing animals can be.

I received this book free of charge from Children's Lit in exchange for my honest review.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stories about remarkable animals always draw me in and the same is true for child readers. National Geographic just seems to have a sense for the kind of stories that appeal to readers. Here we have stories about a dog that saves a woman's life and nearly loses her own, but thanks to the love of her owners as well as people from across the country, including the animal hospital, she survived but with only three legs. Yet her loving nature never changed.

Dolphins saving people from sharks is a fascinating nature event that has occurred more than once. And since dolphins are a popular animal with children, this story is sure to fascinate them.

The two stories about the gorillas helping young children who fell into their enclosures really makes one wonder what caused them to behave the way they did. Several theories are presented but the fact is there is no way to know for sure. We can just be grateful they did what they did and the children survived.

[Branyan Lammerding]

This is a good book.




In courage canine!, You'll will read true stories of an amazing animal heros . Meet Lily, a playful pit bull who bravly pulled her owner from the path of a speeding train ; two pods of dolphins that saved. Swimmers from the most powerful predator on the planet ; and two gorillas who proved just how alike apes and humans rellay are. Join the adventres as these animals save the day

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Animal hero stories that are entertaining and quick to read.

[Donna Dobihal Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moving, true stories for young readers complimented by interesting sidebars, this was a fun, quick read!

[Ann Peachman Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun YA book about not only dogs who rescued humans,but dolphins and gorillas as well. Interesting facts from the animal world and compelling stories. Great for a kid in your life.

[Laurel Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think courageous canine is a good book about a pit bull saving an old lady from getting ran over by a train. While the dog gets serverly hurt.

[Tracy The Great · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good book about amazing animal heroes!!

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book offers several different stories involving animals displaying heroic behaviors. The tales are all quite different, but are fairly quick reads and are perfect for a child who is just starting to read chapter books.

The stories are accompanied by full-color photographs that really complement the narrative. We enjoyed reading this book together.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book because animals were rescuing people. There were dogs, dolphins, and gorillas that saved people. My favorite story was when Lilly saved the person when the train almost went over her.

[Judy Desetti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with Landon

[lunarlibrarian]

Dan cuddled Karou in the hammock on a lazy Sunday afternoon, listening while I read this out loud.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

The dog story was the best.