Liberty Biscuit - by Melanie Sue Bowles (Paperback)

About the Book

Thirteen-year-old Kip rescues a one-eyed white donkey and his two horse companions from an abusive owner, and, with the help of her Grandpa Joe, she works to gentle the hurt and frightened animals.

Book Synopsis

Does a family mystery stand in the way of saving Kip's
best friend?

Katherine Pearl Baker--"Kip" for short--is the only child on
her family's rural peach farm. She longs for a pet to ease the loneliness.
Unfortunately, her father has an angry opposition to all animals--horses in
particular. Why he dislikes them is a confounding mystery.

Hiding in the woods on the Fourth of July, Kip encounters a
bedraggled donkey with one eye and a floppy ear. Immediately smitten and
compelled to protect him, she feeds him biscuits and takes him home. When it is
discovered the donkey fled an abusive owner, Kip's father finally relents,
reluctantly allowing him to stay.

Kip is elated when her grandfather agrees to help her foster
the donkey, who she names "Liberty Biscuit," along with two emaciated horses
removed by the local sheriff from the same home, as the cruelty case goes to
court. While caring for the animals, Kip's happiness is overshadowed by a
shocking discovery in a trunk in the family farm's hayloft--a faded photograph
of her father as a boy that reveals secrets long kept.

A court order to return the horses, and even worse, Kip's
beloved Liberty Biscuit, to the owner who had starved and beaten them, throws Kip's
world into turmoil. She knows she must find a way to keep them, or she will
have betrayed the best friend she has ever had. But saving the animals means
risking the complete unraveling of her family as she exposes the long-buried
truth about a tragic accident and a hurt like she's never known before.

Review Quotes

"Liberty
Biscuit is a valuable book for difficult times. Kip is a warm and
poetic narrator who works with ingenuity to protect the animals she loves, while
her hope and perseverance are also tested by a generations-old family wound." --Whitney
Sanderson, author of the Horse Diaries Series and the Unique Unicorn Series

"Heartwarming." --Kirkus Reviews

"This book is very unique. However, it does share some qualities with E.B. White's Charlotte's Web. In both stores, there is a loving owner who doesn't want to give up the animal that they have bonded with. In both of these stories, there is a very personal attachment the readers have to both Wilbur and Liberty Biscuit." --Fantasic Books & Where to Find Them

"What a delightful read, and a salve for these
current times." --Jec Aristotle Ballou author of 55 Corrective Exercises for
Horses, 101 Dressage Exercises for Horse and Rider, and Equine Fitness

"An artfully written text that engages the mind and spirit of the reader through an effective voice and page-turning narrative kids will quickly relate to and enjoy. Love the cover artwork too!" --Catskill Horse Magazine

"This book kept me guessing what would happen next, and I truly enjoyed reading it." --Blaze Kids Magazine

"If you love animals more than anything, Liberty Biscuit
is the perfect book for you." --Young Rider Magazine

"Liberty Biscuit has characters that feel like real
people. People that we can connect with, understand, and care about as they
face issues that have caused hurt, but also have the power to heal. It captures
the love of horses and the feeling of longing for a horse in a relatable
manner, and portrays the equine characters and their care realistically. This
book surprised me several times, and I truly enjoyed reading it. Liberty
Biscuit is a charming and special book, and I wholeheartedly recommend it
for young readers, and adults as well." --Melissa A. Priblo Chapman, author
of Distant Skies: An American Journey on Horseback

"In addition to the lovely story, exquisite foliage
illustrations begin and end each chapter, making this book a lovely gift for a
horse-loving girl or her loving parents. What makes the book remarkable is not
the donkey or the illustrations, but the story of how the love of family can
overcome obstacles. I loved this beautiful book." --Larri Jo Starkey, Equestrian Journalist

"Kip is my hero. A full-throated cheer for Liberty Biscuit,
his new family, and Melanie Sue Bowles for this inspiring story." --Anna
Blake at Infinity Farm, Horse Advocate, Author, Speaker, Clinician

About the Author

When Melanie Sue Bowles stumbled across the quote, "The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose," she loved it so much that it became the steadfast philosophy by which she has lived her entire adult life. Unwanted, elderly, and abused horses became her purpose, and she and her husband Jim began Proud Spirit Horse Sanctuary with one horse in need on 5 acres of land in rural Florida. Their facility grew to hundreds of acres in Georgia, and then North Carolina, where rescued animals were allowed to roam as natural herds. Over the years, Melanie and Jim have intervened on behalf of over 300 downtrodden horses, many of them coming to the sanctuary to live out their lives in peace and dignity. Their story has been featured on PBS and in three books Bowles has written about the Sanctuary's animal residents. Bowles comes from a large family, many of whom own horses and love all animals as much as she does, including nieces, nephews, and grandchildren who helped inspire the characters in her first middle-grade novel Liberty Biscuit, and now, Little Pearl.