We have learned a lot of spiritual things from our cats. They have brought so much love, joy, peace, play, and wonder into our lives.

We recently reviewed A Dog's Purpose, a jaunty film exploring the special connection between humans and dogs. The documentary Kedi took us to Istanbul where we heard about the wondrous ways that the stray cats of the city enrich people's lives. There certainly is a lot to celebrate about animals!

This lively, engaging, witty, and wonderful paperback is the result of a creative collaboration between poet Daniel Ladinksy, author of The Gift, Love Poems from God, The Subject Tonight Is Love, I Heard God Laughing, and A Year with Hafiz and the spunky illustrations of Patrick McDonnell, creator of the comic strip MUTTS which debuted in 1994 and now appears in 700 newspapers in 22 countries.

This blend of haiku-like poems and comic strips encourages us to practice reverence:

"love is respecting
the beings who can't speak
and treating them as if
they
could."

We learn to be more attentive and appreciative of a dog's playfulness:

"if it wasn't
for fetch I would
never be,
the wonderful
being I am."

There are spunky ditties here on belly rubs, food bowls, littermates and much more. Ladinksy and Patrick McDonnell share more about their pleasure in looking after their animal companions and open our eyes to the story of sweet crickets.