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Book Series Highlights Kids Helping Animals Around the World

Kids and animals make for a good mix. Whether you are a parent who thwarts the constant question of "can we get a puppy?" or you see the fascination on children's faces when you go to the zoo, it's obvious that kids have and seek a connection with all kinds of animals.

"I think we're born with this love of animals," says author Cathleen Burnham. "For some reason, whether it's because we live kind of pushing nature away from us, we lose contact with that."

A new series of books for younger readers brings light to the stories of children around the world who are actually playing a role in protecting various animal species. The first of them is called Doyli to the Rescue and tells the story of a ten year old girl in the Amazon basin who helps rescue and care for orphaned monkeys. Author and documentary photographer Cathleen Burnham met Doyli while on vacation in the Amazon with her family. 

Doyli is the first in a series of six books coming out this year from Milwaukee publisher Crickhollow Books about kids helping to save animals around the world. The series includes stories about kids saving sea turtles in Costa Rica to a boy in Thailand living on an elephant refuge.

Burnham wanted to highlight the stories of small-scale activism to show that people can be kind, caring and involved in helping animals at any age.

"We all have these special pockets of wildlife and we have to protect them," says Burnham.