Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If You Don't Love Rabbits Now You Soon Will!, June 28, 2007
This review is from: Rabbits: Gentle Hearts Valiant Spirits: Inspirational Stories of Rescue, Triumph, and Joy (Paperback)
For three days after receiving a copy of this book as a gift, I carried it with me, alternating between reading it myself and sharing it with others. I still can't keep my hands off of it! I live with rabbits as indoor companion animals, and have great difficulty explaining the magic and overwhelming joy they bring to my life. This absolutely gorgeous (both in format, content, and illustration) book has no difficulty delivering that message!
This is a book that will bring strength, inspiration, and hope to readers who are animal advocates, and create animal advocates--at least for the rabbits--out of those who curently are not. Rabbits are social, intelligent, yet fragile beings who do not enjoy the legislative protections of other companion animals, and they suffer horribly in laboratories, meat plants, on fur farms, and in backyard hutches. In its successful attempt to help others come to know the beauty and potential of these wonderful spirits, this book makes a giant step toward helping to change all that.
The stories will make you weep with sadness, pound your first on the table with anger, and hurrah with joy, yet this book has an even greater purpose--and that is to educate. The book is loaded with information on the care and behavior of rabbits, and that information is the best out there.
This book belongs in the hands of anyone who needs a lift, whether from the depths of the terrible burnout that animal rescuers often suffer or for those who've lost their faith in the goodness of humans who care. Conversely, it also belongs in the hands of everyone who has ever caused injury or death to these amazing animals by buying products created through their exploitation so they will come to understand the harm they cause--and STOP!
My heartfelt gratitude to the authors for knowing that these stories deserved telling, and to the illustrators and photographers who helped to make the stories come alive.
Finally, if after reading this book you find yourself head-over-heels in love with bunnies, PLEASE adopt; don't buy!
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely Incredible, June 13, 2007
This review is from: Rabbits: Gentle Hearts Valiant Spirits: Inspirational Stories of Rescue, Triumph, and Joy (Paperback)
Marie Mead is the quintessence of the Twenty-First Century humanitarian - dedicated and compassionate caregiver to various rabbits and cats in her own home, as well as a clear voice in a world still struggling with the erroneous concepts of animals as commodities, pets, possessions, and school projects. Marie knows first-hand that animals are none of these. They are sentient beings in their own right, intelligent in some ways far beyond human capabilities. She conveys this with clarity and consistency in Rabbits: Gentle Hearts, Valiant Spirits, written in conjunction with Nancy LaRoche.
This is one of the most beautiful volumes I have ever held in my hands, a book that is, in all ways, a work of art. Its larger size makes it comfortable to hold open, especially to study the many stunning full-color photographs and soft pencil drawings and watercolors that hold the eye for a long time. This is a book written and presented with skill, integrity, professionalism, and obvious joy. In addition to Marie Mead's personal experiences with rabbits, there are contributing stories by Bernie Siegel, M.D. and Susan Chernak McElroy with two accounts by Nancy LaRoche, Founder and Co-Manager of the Colorado House Rabbit Society. A detailed Table of Contents, Resource section, and Index complete the professional quality. Each chapter concludes with "About Rabbits", a brief section of practical information pertinent to rabbits such as rabbits in a school classroom, rabbits as Easter gifts, deafness in rabbits, bunny-proofing the house etc.
Above all it is Marie's strong spirit that convinces me that this is a powerful and essential volume, beginning with the first chapter, entitled "Stardust," about Kali, the first rabbit to grace Marie in her adult life. This chapter alone will keep you anxiously turning pages, will cause your heart to sing one moment, weep the next, and by the last page of the chapter you will be smiling in gratitude that Marie Mead is on this planet. For we need such compassionate, committed people who are willing to do the hard work to help others. Marie sees the rabbits for who they are - wonderful, independent, courageous beings: individuals who respond to love and respect. And she gives back to them in kind in the most selfless manner. Kali, who came to her severely damaged both in body and soul/spirit - teaches Marie to not give up, to follow her own intuition, do the research, find the answers, listen and observe. What Marie learns from Kali she is able to incorporate in the care she gave her ailing father, to support the flame of life within every being, a flame that continues endlessly beyond one's current life experience. In such a manner does Marie become a teacher for us all.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Required Reading, July 6, 2007
This review is from: Rabbits: Gentle Hearts Valiant Spirits: Inspirational Stories of Rescue, Triumph, and Joy (Paperback)
Anyone thinking about adopting a bunny needs to read this book. It describes in great detail what is involved in the proper care and handling of rabbits and what can happen if certain procedures are not followed. A wonderful book for all people, such as myself, who are owned by a rabbit or two.
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