"Crossing the Rubicon: The Human-Animal Bond in Life and Death" by Dr. Julie Kaufman is a collection of stories, poems, interviews and exercises. The book is helpful to anyone coping with the loss of a dear animal friend. It is also pertinent to the reader who wants to help someone grieve their loss or better understand the full meaning of the physical, psychological and spiritual roles pets play in our lives.

And as the animal messengers in these pages tell us, it is not only our pets' lives that enrich us, but their deaths and their message from beyond death that affect us as well.

To help the ones left behind, a series of exercises is provided as an aid in the grieving process. These exercises show how we can ease the sorrow, renew the spirit and celebrate the lives of our pets through ceremony, ritual and memory recollection.

This moving anthology depicts the tenderness, frailty and joy of the human-animal bond in a way only true stories can. Cross the Rubicon and you'll never be the same.