Sanctuary: A Home for Rescued Farm Animals

A light touch on a deep subject intended to spur a new generation of animal rights activists.

PreS-K--Two goats have just arrived at a farm animal sanctuary. Other animals are at the sanctuary, too; a cow and its calf are pasturing, a chicken rests next to its egg, and seven piglets are nursing. These happy animals will not be forced to make milk or cheese and be raised as meat. In this sanctuary, children of different races engage with the animals under a blue sky and a green flowery field that makes animals feel at home. Denos offers a picture book for the very young that celebrates animals' rights. The simple text has an environmental and animal-friendly motif addressing animals' bodily autonomy. The third-person narrative style is addressed more to adults, who may want to provide child-friendly background information during story time. The graphite, watercolor, acrylic, and digital paint illustrations rely on a soft palette highlighting the green fields, the clear sky, and the peaceful disposition of the animals and human characters as they interact. The art in this story uses dandelions, garlic mustard, ground ivy, horseweed, milkweed, mullein, and other plants to convey the safe surroundings of the sanctuary. The end note refers to animal cruelty and speciesism, a line of thought that considers animals deprived of rights; Denos includes bullet points on animal activism and ways to connect with the environment. VERDICT A thoughtful picture book with a focus and intention to bring animal rights and autonomy into the consciousness of prereaders.--Kathia Ibacache

Centering scenes of children with varying abilities and skin tones alongside animals who have arrived at a farm sanctuary, Denos (Starcrossed) bears quiet witness to the lives of animals released from making food for humans. "You are afraid," says a child to a goat with a bandaged leg, "but I am here. And here you are safe." A youth holds a goat's ear, and the tag punched through it: "Here you have a name, instead of a number." Softly stroked vignettes show piglets nursing, a hen on a nest, and a cow and a calf cavorting: "Here your value comes from being you--not the milk and cheese you were forced to make." In a quietly affecting spread, a stock truck moving along a highway at night, its back gate open, leaves behind two lambs, who leap over a guardrail to freedom. Likely to require context-setting, this conversation-opening picture book foregrounds important messages of innate value and community care: "Here your body is safe. Your family is safe. Your heart is safe, in mine." A note to caregivers supplies sobering information about industrial food production. Ages 4-8. Agent: Lori Kilkelly, LK Literary. (Jan.)

PRAISE FOR HERE AND NOW: "Readers will find themselves returning for a thoughtful moment again and again." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

PRAISE FOR STARCROSSED: "Author-illustrator Denos weaves a tale of celestial friendship full of wonder and discovery." — Booklist (starred review)