Deborah Noyes wrote this book as a comprehensive look at our lives with animals. It goes through all aspects of our relationships; from myths, stories, history, and science. The myths are entertaining and the stories are often fascinating. The real depth of the book comes when Noyes urges us to not judge animals and their abilities in relation to our own, but rather to step into their shoes (or flippers) and see what we could have done with what they were given. It was a very well-written and intriguing look into a world that fascinates us all.

This book was very remarkable to me, yet it was something I can’t picture most teens running out to read. It was a nonfiction book that read as a nonfiction book. I learned a lot and parts were very interesting, but the fact is that it wasn’t quite interesting enough to become anything more than something interesting a science teacher could read parts of aloud in class. ( )