Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #191112 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 90 pages

Synopsis
These are true stories, told with insight and understanding, of life on a farm in New Hampshire that became a sanctuary for any donkey who needed a home. Donkeys are thought to be humble and stubborn. They are much more than that: from Jenny who goes up an Elizabethan spiral staircase and does not want to come down, to the concern members of the herd display when one of them is ill. They celebrate the arrival of a foal and respect the authority of the mule that joins them. When she dies, they stand on her grave and bray a sad requiem on and on into the night. Thousands of years of being the beast of burden of the poor has stamped donkeys with a stigma of inferiority, but they have humor, strong wills, and a great deal of affection to give. They are curious and loyal. These are stories about friendship: the donkeys with each other and with the author who established her love for her first donkey when she was very young. After the sad death of that donkey, she vowed to offer sanctuary to any donkey who needed a home. These are stories to read aloud in a family setting or perhaps by a young person who can empathize with and enjoy these often misunderstood gentle creatures.

They are stories for anyone who loves animals.

Customer Reviews

Donkey see, donkey do.
Ahahahahaha, now this is more like it. Rabid amazonian fans of spiders would have read about my slight disappointment on Michael J. Roberts' "Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe (Collins Field Guide)". It was fine for what it was, but much like Jeanette Winterson taught us that oranges are not the only fruit, someone needs to pass on an urgent message to Mr Roberts that spiders are not the only mammal, and devoting so much time, energy and time to writing a field guide screams volumes about his personal life.

I have quite a library of donkey-related books - "Donkey: The Mystique of Equus Asinus", "Donkeys: Their Care and Management", "Downhill All the Way: Walking with Donkeys", "The Donkey Companion", "J.W.R. - A Donkey's Face" and "Looking After a Donkey (Donkeys)" are all part of my valuably insured collection. Donkeys have always struck me as the most socialist of animals - in comparison to the low key Thatcherism of tree frogs and the rabid Stalinism of the meerkat - they posess a stubborn gentleness that hasn't gone unnoticed by trained eyes.

Now, Janet Baker-Carr has really produced something magical here - if it was possible to bottle her brain, I'd certainly be tempted to try it. This book will make you laugh and cry, then laugh again with it's delicately told woven vignettes of truth - "When she dies, they stand on her grave and bray a sad requiem on and on into the night" - powerful stuff. (However I must take issue with her stand on mules - a mule is not a donkey. IT IS AN ABOMINATION.)

An Extravagance of Donkeys? More like, An Embarassment of Riches!