When Allen Anderson's mother sends him a Christmas card asking, "Your father and I wonder sometimes what we did as parents that made us such heels in our children's eyes?" Allen writes his parents an emotional 16-page letter. In it he details over 60 events he feels were unjust during his teenage years at home. Oatmeal Killed the Dinosaurs draws upon Allen's letter to tell his inspirational story. In turn the reader is forced to question the motivation of their own parents: Were they motivated to do the best for their child, or themselves? For Allen, a young man in the Navy, his answer-and...

A New York Times bestseller 2012 Outstanding Book Award from the American Association of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). Allen and Linda Anderson adopted a traumatized one-year-old cocker spaniel who had been abandoned. Soon, the troubled dog they named Leaf turned their home into a war zone. Although Leaf and Allen were forging a friendship with visits to dog parks and bonding time, Leaf s emotional issues overwhelmed the couple. Shortly after Leaf s arrival, Allen, who had spent eight years as a big city police officer and survived so many close calls that Linda called him Miracle Man,...