Book Recommendations, Reviews and Author Interviews from All-Creatures.org

Our Farm: By the Animals of Farm Sanctuary By Maya Gottfried

PUBLISHER: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Our Farm: By the Animals of Farm Sanctuary
Available at Amazon
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780375861185
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0375861185

REVIEWS

I love the organization Farm Sanctuary. I’ve been to the Orland, California location twice. I think Bonnie the donkey in this book was from Orland. But most of the animals featured are, I think, from the original Watkins Glen, New York location. So, re this book: I wanted to like it more than I did. I appreciated the author’s note for grown-ups at the back of the book, I enjoyed the illustrations very much, but I wasn’t that fond of the poems. While they do capture each species of animal sufficiently well, I just wasn’t wild about them. Also, the fact that the are presented as by the animal vs. simply from their perspective, didn’t work that well for me. That said, I would recommend this book for vegan children, children who have visited or have an upcoming visit to Farm Sanctuary or any of the many other sanctuaries for farmed animals, and it would be a good tool for humane education classes. My four star rating is for the attempt and the value of the book, and for the illustrations. The poems I’d give 2 or 3 stars to most, but don’t bring the book down below 3-1/2 stars, so I’m going up vs. down a half star rating because it’s Farm Sanctuary! And, it’s appropriate for the youngest child. I’d read the author’s note to children aware of the issues.
~ Lisa Vegan

Abused or abandoned farm animals find a home at Farm Sanctuary. In this children's picture book each anthropomorphized animal is paired with a poem describing their sweet, free life at the sanctuary. Appealing.
~ Karen Witzler

An imaginative and fun to learn book about the lives of our animals. There were things that I did not know about different animals before I read this and I am proud of it.
~ Mason King

 I came across this book by accident browsing new books at the public library. And, how strange, but just last Sunday there was an article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle about the Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen. The poems are short and so perfectly suited the to personalities of the animals at the Farm Sanctuary. I loved the poems! The illustrations are a combination of bright or muted colors, depending on the animal. The artwork also include pencil sketches of the animals on the page with an illustration of the animal. Just an adorable piece of work, but also useful for poetry units as well. The local connection to the FInger Lakes doesn't hurt either, as well as a little education in animal kindness.
~ Karen Arendt

AUTHOR/ARTIST

Maya Gottfried works in advertising and is a freelance writer who lives inBrooklyn. Maya Gottfried is a writer of poetry and prose for both children and adults. She works for a publishing company in New York City, and has served as a volunteer for Farm Sanctuary.

Robert Rahway Zakanitch is a fine artist who lives and works in New York City. He was awarded a Guggenheim Foundation Grant, and his work is represented in many public collections, including The Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Zakanitch created the paintings for this book as an extension of his Aggressive Goodness Series of large-scale dog portraits whose unabashed purpose was to evoke the notion of goodness and to remind people of their aptitude for compassion. He lives in New York.

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