Beastly Brains: Exploring How Animals Think, Talk, and Feel

Castaldo (The Story of Seeds) presents a thought-provoking look at the minds and perceptions of animals, as well as the way human understanding of the subject has evolved, as she describes a series of studies designed to examine cognition in animals. On “Monkey Island”—off the coast of Puerto Rico—researchers observed how monkeys exhibited humanlike tendencies when a form of “currency” was introduced into their community; dolphins have been shown to recognize themselves in mirrors; and dogs have displayed signs of jealousy in experiments. Castaldo makes the science behind the studies clear, particularly the moral ramifications with regard to human treatment of animals: “The issue is no longer accepting that animals think: it’s now the challenge of figuring out how they think and what we will do with that information.” Ages 12–up. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary. (Feb.)