SELECTED REVIEWS FOR
Hope for Animals and Their World
How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink

Publishers Weekly
With the resurgence of red wolves and California condors, there is good news on the species front, as chronicled in this collection of success stories by renowned chimp researcher Jane Goodall. Section one recounts the revival of six mammal and bird species, including Mongolian miniature horses and Australian wallabies, that became extinct in the wild but are being reintroduced to their natural habitat through captive breeding. Section two describes efforts to bring species back from near extinction, among them Brazil's golden lion tamarin and the North American whooping crane. Section three details continuing efforts to preserve 11 species, including the giant pandas of China, whose bamboo diet is disappearing, and the Asian vultures of India, whose "disastrous population drop"-- from a reported 87 million birds to 27 breeding pairs in 2006 -- has led to a dramatic rise in disease incubated by putrefying cattle carcasses once scavenged by the carrion-loving birds. Goodall is no Pollyanna about species reclamation -- she acknowledges that there have been more losses than gains -- but these accounts of conservation success are inspirational. 

Kirkus Reviews
A heartening collection of conservation success stories from world-renowned primatologist Goodall (Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating, 2005, etc.)...Writing with warmth and good humor, the author presents a cornucopia of stories about people and groups who have worked tirelessly-and often against great odds-to save or help in the recovery of more than two-dozen animal species on the brink of extinction. Based on in-person conversations with biologists and others, her chatty accounts paint a vivid picture of how captive breeding and other initiatives by passionate individuals, governments and NGOs have brought back species nearly decimated by development, hunting, pollution and other human activities...An upbeat compendium that will energize both hands-on and armchair conservationists.

SELECTED REVIEWS FOR

Harvest for Hope

“If you want to be newly awakened to the joy of eating, to the miracle of food, and to the power each of us has by the way we live our lives, do yourself a favor. Get a copy of HARVEST FOR HOPE. I promise you: your life will change in countless ways, all of them for the better...One of those rare truly great books that can change the world.”

—JOHN ROBBINS, AUTHOR OF THE FOOD REVOLUTION AND DIET FOR A NEW AMERICA

“In HARVEST FOR HOPE, Jane Goodall convinces us that we should have a new relationship with food, one that is inspiring and delicious, at the same time a preservation of tradition and an act of conservation.”

—ALICE WATERS, AUTHOR OF CHEZ PANISSE FRUIT AND CHEZ PANISSE VEGETABLES

“I love this book! Jane Goodall’s generous, playful spirit imbues every fascinating age. HARVEST FOR HOPE is full of mind-expanding observations. . . a personal, tender wake-up call telling us that we can reclaim the wisdom of our bodies.”

—FRANCES MOORE LAPPÉ, AUTHOR OF HOPE’S EDGE AND DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET

“That Jane Goodall feels called to bring her life as a zoologist in Africa to bare on the state of food in the world, shows that regardless of what we've done in our lives, what we choose to eat matters. And how. Thankfully, HARVEST FOR HOPE points to the actions we can take to correct the imbalances. But it starts where it must, by making us conscious beings, for ultimately, environmental transformation can't exist outside of personal transformation. If you haven’t thought much about the food you eat and the choices you make (and even if you have), this is an important book to read!”

—DEBORAH MADISON, AUTHOR OF VEGETARIAN COOKING FOR EVERYONE AND LOCAL FLAVORS: COOKING AND EATING FROM AMERICA’S FARMERS’ MARKETS

“A lucid, anecdote-filled introduction to the world of food, revealing how our food production affects us and how our choices affect the environment. . . Consider this book the shopping list for you and your children’s future.”

—PAUL HAWKEN, AUTHOR OF ECOLOGY OF COMMERCE

“Thrice a day you get the chance to change the planet. You can change it in significant ways, if you follow just some of this book’s wise advice.”

—BILL MCKIBBEN, AUTHOR OF WANDERING HOME: A LONG WALK ACROSS AMERICA’S MOST HOPEFUL LANDSCAPE

— Publishers Weekly

SELECTED REVIEWS FOR
I Wanna Be Sedated

From Kirkus
“For parents of teenagers, an edifying collection that reassures them that (a) they are not alone and (b) this, too, shall pass. The [book] is both entertaining and illuminating, a tough, funny, sometimes painful series of tales that focus on the special challenges of parenting [teenagers]. An entertaining resource for parents of teens and parents of younger children who want to know what to expect in the years to come.”

From Laura Kastner, author of The Seven Year Stretch and The Launching Years.
“This collection offer more wisdom and hilarity than any advice book ever could. Although the specifics vary, the awe of watching beloved babies transform themselves into unique individuals during adolescence is riveting in every essay.”

From Chicago Parent, Jennifer Burlow
 “When it’s too late in the evening to call someone to commiserate about your teen’s latest escapade, pick up I Wanna Be Sedated. It’s just like sharing stories with your friends. Editors Faith Conlon and Gail Hudson have done a marvelous job of compiling an engaging collection of essays about life with teenagers written by some of our most talented writers. Dave Barry checks in with “Warning: An American Teenager is Loose in Europe” about how our favorite know-it-alls don’t really know it all. And I sure wish I could write as eloquently to my girls as Barbara Kingsolver does to her daughter in “Letter to a Daughter at Thirteen.” The other selections are just as riveting and witty.”

From The Baltimore Sun, Susan Reimer
“I don't know about you, but when my children are getting the best of me, the last thing I want to do is read a self-help book on how to raise teenagers without letting them get the best of you. What I want to do is call up a friend, complain bitterly, make all sorts of threats that I probably will not carry out (if my kids are lucky) and then hang up the phone, feeling better for having vented.

Now there is an advice-free book to read when your best friend's line is busy. [I Wanna be Sedated] is a collection of essays, many of them very funny, from parents who have it worse than you have it. There is nothing like someone else's train wreck of a life to make you feel better about your own... This collection of essays captures the range of feelings in the roller coaster world of raising teens - from intense love to irrational anger - in the words of men and women who have lived this life and survived to tell the tale. Between its pages are friends you can call on anytime.”

Big Apple Parent, Judy Antell
“Whether or not you have a teenager, you will relate to I Wanna Be Sedated: 30 Writers on Parenting Teenagers. This book has laugh-out-loud essays from writers across the country, [with] fathers writing about daughters, mothers about sons, mothers about daughters, etc. W. Bruce Cameron, in the “Teenager Owner’s Manual” writes that “when you first receive your teenage daughter you will experience a high level of discomfort. Gradually this discomfort will subside and you will merely feel traumatized.” Several of the stories lament the change from being the center of a child’s universe to a point where, as Irene Hopkins relates in “The Seven Circles of Hormone Hell”: “I can actually embarrass her when there is no one in the room but the two of us.” –

From Valley Kids, Jennifer Margulis
“I Wanna Be Sedated is a gem. Besides, what’s handier than a book of short stories to read by the penlight you keep at the side of the bed while you wait up for your curfew-breaking teenager? I suggest investing in two copies: one for yourself and another for your kid. Just don’t tell him you bought it. Pretend instead that it was a gift of the gods, which is what this book is.”