Reviews

YA-- A master storyteller continues the charming account of his experiences as veterinarian in rural Yorkshire. And although there are more cats and dogs as patients than before, there are plenty of large farm animals to deal with, frequently during the middle of the night. The detailed but succinct descriptions of people, places, and animals are a delight. Herriot's unusual ability to identify individual characters, both human and four-legged, brings them to life--even for the most urban American. The endearing strand weaving all episodes together is the constant devotion of man to animal and animal to man. Chapters are short, the pace is rapid, and the stories are very easy to read--perfect for unmotivated readers. The author's keen sense of humor will bring smiles to the faces of YAs, particularly when he tells a joke on himself. Nonfiction at its most entertaining best.-- Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA

Reading Herriot's book is like listening to the stories of a very old friend. Familiar. Comforting. A little repetitious. His stories of veterinary work in the Yorkshire dales ( All Creatures Great and Small , LJ 8/72; All Things Bright and Beautiful , LJ 10/15/74) have brought to many city folk a sense of wonder and an understanding of the life of a country vet and his patients, both human and animal. In this collection, an older and perhaps more tired Herriot struggles with bad - tempered farmers, difficult diagnoses, an assistant who travels with a live badger, and his own pet cats, who will have nothing to do with him. While the stories and settings hark back to his previous works, the humor and spark are missing. The older Herriot struggles to maintain the wonder and merriment of his youth but gets bogged down in the mundane aspects of shopping for a house and seems numbed rather than heartbroken by the death of some of his patients. Demand will warrant multiple copies, but for the first-time Herriot reader, recommend his earlier works. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/92.-- Debra Schneider, Virginia Henderson Internat. Nursing Lib., Indianapolis

Herriot's many fans will not be disappointed by his latest, which picks up the story of his veterinary practice in Yorkshire after WW II. BOMC main selection and 22-week PW bestseller in cloth. (July)