Hi, Miss Julie

Daisy to the Rescue: True Stories of Daring Dogs, Paramedic Parrots, and Other Animal Heroes

By Jeff Campbell and illustrated by Ramsey Beyer, with a foreword by Dr. Mark Bekoff / Published by Zest Books and distributed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / ISBN-13: 978-1-936976-62-1 / $17.99 Hardcover, 320 pages, Ages 12+)

As a single woman with two cats, I’m always interested in a good “animal saves human” story, especially ones involving animals other than dogs. Cats are more known for their propensity to eat your corpse if you die at home alone (although I recently learned that cats will mostly eat only your face, so as a “green burial” strategy, corpse removal via cat is not your best option) so I’m always on the lookout for a cat hero story to make myself feel better about the beasts who occupy my home.

Campbell’s book meets this need of mine and then some. Not only do cats save lives in this book, so do parrots, potbellied pigs, ponies, and kangaroos. I was personally greatly comforted by the tale of Inky, who saved his owner from being crushed by a fallen door. I hope my cats show the same heroic spirit should I ever become trapped under my refrigerator. Not that I think about that. No.

Campbell divides his tales into four parts to cover a variety of animal stories, including my favorite part, Legends and Folktales. This section includes a story of feral girls in India who may or may not have been raised by wolves, and whether or not a priest was trying to spin their story into an elaborate hoax.

The tale that sticks with me most, though, is the story of Kabang, the Filipino street dog. In the Philippines, street dogs (referred to as aspin) are often raised for meat rather than kept as pets, and live short, brutal lives before being slaughtered. Before this could happen to Kabang, however, she saved the lives of two young girls in the family who had been destined to kill her for food.

Kabang jumped at a motorcyle that was bearing down on eleven year old Dina and three year old princess, knocking the bike over in time to save the girls. In the process, Kabang had her lower jaw torn from her face. The family, despite her ugliness, regarded her as a hero, and treasured her as a member of the family for the rest of their lives.

This is being listed as 12+, and I can definitely see it having wide appeal for advanced elementary school readers through high school students. The stories are short and vividly told, and could even be used as read alouds for a class. I also love that the design of the book will appeal to younger readers without being overly childlike—no older kid will be embarrassed to be seen reading this book, yet the beautiful illustrations will still draw in younger readers.

Share with readers who enjoyed Nubs : The True Story Of A Mutt, A Marine & A Miracle, Alex & Me : How A Scientist And A Parrot Discovered A Hidden World Of Animal Intelligence–and Formed A Deep Bond In The Process, fans of Jon Katz’s books, or people who have read the entire James Herriott canon and are hungry for more animal tales.

This post is part of Zest books True Stories blog tour. I have to say that Zest is now one of my favorite publishers, and I am loving the titles that they are putting out. I’ll be writing about another one of their newest titles on Monday!