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Melissa Dennihy

Melissa Dennihy, Ph.D., is an English professor at Queensborough Community College of the City University of New York, where her work focuses in part on ecoliterature and environmental humanities. In her spare time, she and her rescue pup, Pearl, foster homeless dogs together.

Book Review: How Far the Light Reaches: A Life In Ten Sea Creatures

September 16, 2024July 31, 2024 by Melissa Dennihy

What do we know about life in the ocean, and what can the varied forms of life there teach us about our own lives and selves? These are the questions …

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Categories Animal Behavior, Book Reviews, Ecology, Endangered Species, Essays, Nonfiction, Oceans

Book Review: Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz

August 18, 2022 by Melissa Dennihy

Winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Natalie Diaz’s Postcolonial Love Poem is a powerful collection of ecopoetry that forefronts the interconnectedness of humans, animals, land, and water. Throughout, …

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Categories Book Reviews, Conservation, Ecology, Endangered Species, Poetry, Pollution

Book Review: Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction by Michelle Nijhuis

December 2, 2021 by Melissa Dennihy

Beloved Beasts is a richly informative history of the international conservation movement and the central figures who have played crucial roles in developing conservationism and moving conservation efforts forward. The …

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Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: Willodeen by Katherine Applegate

September 7, 2021 by Melissa Dennihy

Katherine Applegate’s Willodeen, out today from Feiwel and Friends, aptly begins with an epigraph quoting Greta Thunberg: “I have learned you are never too small to make a difference.”  This …

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Categories Animal Rights, Book Reviews, Children's Books, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecology, Endangered Species, Fiction, Hunting, Topics

Book Review: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

August 11, 2021 by Melissa Dennihy

Set on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi in the span of the twelve days before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina makes landfall, Salvage the Bones is the story of 14-year-old …

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Categories Animal Rights, Bloomsbury, Book Reviews, Climate Change, Ecology, Fiction, Pets

Book Review: The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

June 12, 2021June 12, 2021 by Melissa Dennihy

Studies of animal intelligence have demonstrated the impressive cognitive abilities of certain animals: rhesus macaques, crows, bottlenose dolphins, border collies.  Recently, there is another animal gaining increasing recognition for its …

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Categories Animal Behavior, Book Reviews, Ecology, Nonfiction, Oceans, What we're reading

Book Review: The Meaning of Birds by Simon Barnes

April 18, 2021 by Melissa Dennihy

In The Meaning of Birds, Simon Barnes traces the history of birds—as well as humans’ relationships and interactions with them—over several millennia and across multiple continents. Barnes is a UK-based …

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Categories Animal Behavior, Birds, Book Reviews, Conservation, Ecology, Endangered Species, Nonfiction, Pegasus Books

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