A Mom's review of "Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing" by Judi Barrett

These days, pet stores everywhere sell clothing for both useful purposes (like coats and boots) and for dressing up; they're sold for dogs, cats, hamsters, ferrets, rabbits, rats, and guinea pigs so far (and the list keeps growing). In zoos, labs, and sanctuaries, animals like chimpanzees and gorillas are being offered clothing; if they'd like to, they have them to wear. It reduces stress, brings them joy, choice in their daily life, etcetera. From clothes to iPads, animals in zoos, labs, and sanctuaries are bridging the species gap and making the most of all sorts of things available to them. Given a paint brush, an elephant will create art for fun, joy, and holds great pride in the experience. Chimps brush their teeth in mirrors, wear sweaters, and read books. The sign-language research shows that sentience, creativity, and glamour are not limited to human-animals (yes, we are animals too, so how does that jive with this book's title??). A group of scientists led by Stephen Hawking, this year created and signed the Cambridge Declaration of Consciousness of non-human animals. And a team of the leading Web innovators are working with singer Peter Gabriel to create "keyboard" input-devices for other species to use the Internet. I believe they are starting with a "keyboard" for dolphins! The world is changing rapidly and non-human animals are no longer so very different from human-animals. If you read this book to your child, you could be doing them an educational dis-service. It's not exactly correct, AT ALL.