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Reviews
Urban Tails: The Hidden Life of Alley Cats
by John Knox and Sara Neely / New World Library / $19.95
I’m not normally what you would call a “cat person,” but I do love great photography. And because of this, I was immediately drawn to Urban Tails: The Hidden Life of Alley Cats by John Knox and Sara Neely, which photo-documents the lives of a colony of feral cats outside of a work building in Atlanta. At first glance, the photos of the kittens and adult cats just seemed cute, but when I began to really think about where these photos were taken and how many of these cats were out there suffering needlessly, it caught my heart’s attention too. Knox does an amazing job of capturing the essence of the colony’s ability to survive a gritty, cruel life, and does it with grace. And in between the photos, Neely provides great information and stories about the cats that leave you rooting for their happiness and survival. My favorite section of the book isn’t the artistic styling, it’s the fact that both Knox and Neely challenged themselves to learn more about how to prevent the amount of feral cats in the world, and tell stories of how they worked to make life a little bit better for future generations of cats by catching, fixing and trying to house the cat colony. If they couldn’t find homes, they left them where they found them, but kept an eye on them and made sure they were fed. They also included stories of other people working with them to save these beautiful animals and help them live better lives. To me, that’s worth documenting. −AV newworldlibrary.com, amazon.com
To Bee or Not to Bee
by John Penberthy / Sterling Publishing / $17.95
Ever since I was a child, I’ve enjoyed simple, sweet stories that have deep and meaningful messages. Because of this, I was delighted when I picked up To Bee or Not to Bee by John Penberthy, which tells the story of a worker bee who is caught up in the mindless routine of a bee’s life. Soon he begins to question why he does what he does. This little bee begins to wonder if there’s not more to life than just foraging, building the hive, and storing honey. And as Buzz the Bee begins to search for these questions, he encounters other creatures and situations that seemingly put hindrances in the way of his finding the answers, but end up teaching him life’s most valuable lessons. This might seem a bit childish and simplistic, but if you really allow yourself to get into the story of this poor little bee looking for life’s answers, you begin to see that this is not just a child’s bedtime story. It is also an alluring allegory that demonstrates what a person goes through in the never-ending search for answers to ultimately find God. When I found out that this story was nearly a mirror image of Penberthy’s experiences and thoughts, I was sure that I had found a great source of knowledge to hand out to friends who I know may be going through a rough time and are questioning life’s meaning. And while this book might not have all the answers, it definitely focuses on the fact that life is too important to be taken so seriously. − AV sterlingpublishing.com, Amazon.com