11-year-old Evan Bisnauth of the Bronx, New York, won a special award -- the ASPCA Kid of the Year -- because of his efforts to help socialize shelter dogs and get them adopted.
Evan takes time out of his busy days to do a simple, but powerful, thing at a nearby shelter. He reads books to the dogs.
His favorite story to read is Belly Rubbins for Bubbins, written by Jason Kraus. It’s about a dog that was placed into the shelter and got adopted.
This simple act of reading calms down nervous dogs. Evan has found that while he’s reading to them, the flow of his storytelling helps the dogs take their minds off of their anxiety.
Calm dogs are more approachable -- and are more likely to be placed in safe and loving homes.
Evan’s success with these dogs led to him being named Kid of the Year, which he says makes him feel “really good,” but it also makes him want to “do so much more" in the years to come.