Saving Emily (Young Readers) [Paperback]

Nicholas Read (Author), Ellen Klem (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2001 | Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up | Series: Young Readers

This work is intended for ages 10+. This unique, sensitively written novel for young readers about life on a modern farm skilfully interweaves two stories, one from the animal perspective of a cow named Emily and the other from the human viewpoint of a twelve-year-old boy named Chris. Nicholas Read eloquently describes how two very different lives encounter similar disruptions and are ultimately brought together in a life-and-death adventure. Though Emily's early experiences on the farm are pleasant, she soon senses her mother's unmistakable signals that all is not well. Before long she must face the cruel realities of branding, a livestock market, confinement in a feedlot, and finally a frightening ride in a cattle truck. Chris, too, is dealing with the harsh reality of a broken home and being forced to move from the city to the country to start a new life when his mother decides to remarry. Compared to the busy city, Chris finds the country to be a lonely place, and he has trouble making friends until he meets Gina, a true free spirit with a love for animals. How Chris and Gina scheme to rescue Emily from a sad fate makes a fascinating and instructive tale. Parents who care about animals will want their children to read this charming, engrossing story.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...deals with the common childhood problem of being different and fitting in." -- Toronto Vegetarian Association, Sept/Oct, 2001

"a gripping adventure story...and a heart-tugging plea for compassion for every kind of living creature" -- vegsource.com, October 4, 2001

From the Publisher

"...there isn't another book quite like Saving Emily, either in the vegetarian canon or children's literature. . . a gripping adventure story, a sympathetic tale about peer pressure versus individuality, and a heart-tugging plea for compassion for every kind of living creature, whether they have four legs or two . . . it creates a niche in vegetarian literature, and fills it brilliantly." -- Vegsource.com

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (May 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573928976
• ISBN-13: 978-1573928977
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,263 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Saving Emily is a wonderful novel for children !, October 31, 2001

By 

Melanie "mongoliamel" (Cass Lake, MN, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Saving Emily (Young Readers) (Paperback)

Many children are kind to dogs and cats. Unfortunately, this compassionate attitude isn’t always extended to wild animals or those that much of society callously regards as “food animals.” Many usually caring and thoughtful children (and some adults) don’t think (or don’t want to think) about where their burger or bacon & eggs come from. Some people mistakenly think, or are wrongly led to believe, that animals raised for society’s unhealthy and cruel diet live carefree, enjoyable lives free from any hardships until they are quickly and humanely killed for food.
Saving Emily is a wonderful novel for children aged 9 and up. In telling the stories of Emily, the heifer, 12-year-old Chris, and his friend Gina,Nicholas Read not only provides an interesting and enjoyable story, he also effectively informs the reader of the cruel existence that cows and bulls must endure until they are killed.
While Saving Emily is an interesting story and provides valuable insight into the business of growing and killing animals for food, it also deals with the important and common issues of dealing with—and overcoming, difficult childhood experiences. Chris must leave his friends and school in the city. His parents are divorced and his mother has married someone who lives in a small town. Gina is different from the other children in her school. She is a vegetarian and she helps out at the Rescue Ranch where dogs, horses and cows who have been saved are cared for. Her love for—and attitude toward, animals doesn’t sit well with the other students in the ranching community.
Finally, Saving Emily conveys the vital message that the efforts of a few can result in positive changes, making an often hostile and cruel world a little kinder. Children who like animals will enjoy this book. Children who aren’t as caring toward animals should read it! –Reviewed by Glenn Perrett

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every child who loves animals should read this book!, July 12, 2001

By 

Debra Probert (Surrey, British Columbia, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saving Emily (Young Readers) (Paperback)

Saving Emily is an engaging story about a girl, a boy and a cow named Emily. When Chris moves to the country he feels lonely and different - until he meets Gina. Chris thinks Gina is a little crazy because she cares so much about animals - but after meeting Emily and finding out her destination is the slaughterhouse, he begins to understand how strongly people can relate to animals!

I'd recommend this as a must-read for all children, since they seem to be born with an inherent love for all animals.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Saving Emily, February 28, 2006

By 

Anne - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saving Emily (Young Readers) (Paperback)

It's probably fair to say that there isn't another book quite like Saving Emily. While it takes its cues from Black Beauty, Watership Down, The Animals of Farthing Wood and other books that seek to portray the lives of animals in an honest, forthright way, Saving Emily is unique for its humble subject and hero.

Emily is a beef cow, a Hereford heifer growing up on the range in rural USA. Unlike the animals on Old McDonald's farm or the grinning anthropomorphized hamburgers portrayed by McDonald's, Emily lives it like it is. She's tagged, beaten, branded, hauled in cramped, filthy cattle trucks, sold at auction like a steak on the hoof, and sent to a feedlot for fattening.

Author Nicholas Read doesn't pull any punches where the truth is concerned. But nor does he belabour them.That's the gift of the book; it's not dogmatic. Yes, it contains a clear vegetarian message, but it's delivered with subtlety, not a sledgehammer. No one, regardless of his or her opinion on the ethics of eating meat, could ever question its validity as a straightforward children's story, filled with interesting characters - both human and animal - and situations. That's due not just to Emily's story, but also to Chris's, the book's human hero.

Chris is a city boy wrenched from the urban life he knows by his divorced mother when she marries the doctor in a small country town. At first, he is bereft and lost, a virtual fish out of water with no friends and no idea of how to fit into such strange new surroundings. Then he meets Gina, a free-spirited young girl with strong ideas about everything, including animals. Chris likes her immediately, but wishes, for her own good and his, that she weren't so different. The other kids in their country school make fun of her for her outspokenness, and while Chris admires her courage, he can't help feeling sorry for her. Why, he wonders, can't she just be like everyone else? Life would be so much less trouble that way.

It would have been easy - and probably was tempting - for Read to demonize the book's villains. Except even that isn't fair, since the only villain is cruelty. And cruelty to animals is not, as often defined by defensive farmers, a subject that pits "city" people against "country" people. The ranchers are treated fairly. The people fighting to save Emily are far from perfect. Everyone has his or her flaws and colours, and everyone's motivations are given a fair shake. That's what makes the book so readable and so non-judgmental.

Saving Emily is a gripping adventure story, a sympathetic tale about peer pressure versus individuality, and a heart-tugging plea for compassion for every kind of living creature, whether they have four legs or two. In doing that, it creates a niche in vegetarian literature, and fills it brilliantly.