From bestselling and award-winning author T.C. Boyle, a lively, thought-provoking novel that asks us what it would be like if we could really talk to the animals
When animal behaviorist Guy Schermerhorn demonstrates on a TV game show that he has taught Sam, his juvenile chimp, to speak in sign language, Aimee Villard, an undergraduate at Guy's university, is so taken with the performance that she applies to become his assistant.

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An unmanageable, but lovable, eleven-year-old misfit learns to believe in himself when he gets to know the new school counselor, who is a sort of misfit too.

Alice learns the importance of saying "please" as well as that this magical word will not lead to everything she wants.

Cal Bradleys marriage to Marie is the stuff of romance. Then one night, a 19-year-old boy named Peter Blue goes on a rampage. Friendless and suicidal, Blue is sent to Bradley for treatment. For the patient, it's a last chance at redemption. For the doctor, it's the beginning of a journey into a world of fear, deception, and murder. Because somehow, Blue's extraordinary inner life is linked to Cal's reality. And in the mystery of the teenager's mind...

Rude little Cecily Beasley suffers the consequences of making one too many faces when a bird builds its nest on her tongue and she must wait with her tongue stuck out for the babies to hatch.

When brothers Max and Jay help a classmate in trouble, they struggle with the consequences of their violent actions and worry they may be more like their abusive father than they thought, so the brothers turn to their Bribri roots to find their way forward.

Daniel is rude and only learns to be polite when no one wants to play with him.

Grouch, Grump, and little Gloom 'n' Doom spend much of their time arguing over who is the "biggest and baddest" until they build a monster together that turns out to be very different that what they expect.

Rather than fulfill the expectations of his persistent companion, an animal chooses to live authentically.

"Sonny and his friend Boo learn to say sorry and make things right after they eat Honey's cake"--