BOOKS: Rescue Swine 1-1

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1997:

Rescue Swine 1-1
True Stories and Poems About
Life at an Animal Sanctuary
by Steve Lawrence
Misty Valley Publications (2650
Spencer Road, Spencer, NY 14883),
1995. 84 pages, paperback, $9.95.
Audiocassette version $7.95.

Books about animal sanctuaries
authored by the sanctuary management are
typically directed at prospective high donors.
Thus when the Rescue Swine 1-1 book and
audiocassete arrived two years ago, we mistakenly
sent the book to a succession of adult
reviewers, none with young children, none
of whom got around to reading it.

But, though Rescue Swine 1-1 is
not lavishly illustrated, it is directed toward
children, especially toward the sort of questions
children ask when visiting a sanctuary:
why are you doing this? Where did these
animals come from? It explains what cruelty
and neglect are, without getting into gruesome
detail; explains the links between
human and animal suffering; and except on
two pages of advertising at the very back,
never asks for money.
Our son Wolf always has liked the
audiocassette version. Most young readers
who like animals will also enjoy the text.
Child-friendly, this might even be the first
book with few pictures that some attempt.