My Mom's a Vet [Hardcover]

Henry Horenstein (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

A young girl's firsthand impressions and full-color photographs provide a close-up look at the life and career of a country veterinarian, as she travels from farm to farm, caring for ill pigs, goats, horses, and cows.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-A true-to-life visit with a 12-year-old girl and her mother, a veterinarian. As Darcie assists her mom for a week, she experiences the joy and sadness that come with caring for goats, cows, and horses. The woman is always calm and matter of fact as she goes about her work, earning the respect and trust of her farmer clients. Horenstein's writing is direct and portrays the profession in a realistic manner. The full-color photographs are wonderful and show country life in all its beauty and vigor. Included are photographs of the veterinarian-aided birth of a calf, a goat's dehorning, and a horse that loses an eye because of its owner's neglect. A balanced presentation, this is a worthy addition to career collections.
Pamela K. Bomboy, Chesterfield County Public Schools, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-6. Horenstein's photo-essay explores two subjects: the work of a veterinarian who treats farm animals and her relationship with her daughter, Darcie. Darcie, the narrator, describes one week during which she assisted her mother on daily calls to various farms. Together they attend a lame horse, "pull" (birth) a calf, dehorn a goat, vaccinate piglets, treat an eye injury, and perform major surgery on a milking cow. The full-color photographs show much of what is going on (such as the birth) but omit other things (e.g., the horse's eyeball out of its socket). This is not like a trip to one's local vet and probably not a book for very young or queasy children, but it is fascinating. While Horenstein documents the hard physical work that Darcie's mother does for a living, he also shows Darcie's life. The mother hopes to teach her daughter about responsibility, and she surely does. Readers will undoubtedly learn, like Darcie, about tenderness and appropriate animal care as well as some of the economic issues that concern farmers. Kathryn Broderick

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick; 1st edition (May 2, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156402234X
• ISBN-13: 978-1564022349
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,936,419 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Henry Horenstein is a widely published and exhibited professional photographer and the author of more than two dozen books, including the classic texts Black & White Photography and Beyond Basic Photography, and monographs such as Honky Tonk, Animalia, Show, Close Relations, and Racing Days. Horenstein is professor of photography at the Rhode Island School of Design. You can see his work at www.horenstein.com.