Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Critters of Mossy Creek-Sandra Chastain, Deborah Smith, Debra Dixon, Michele Hauf, Martha Crockett

Critters of Mossy Creek
Sandra Chastain, Deborah Smith, Debra Dixon, Michele Hauf, Martha Crockett
Belle Books, Sep 2009, $14.95
www.bellebooks,com
ISBN: 9780984125821

The Creekites of Mossy Creek, Georgia love their small town, but even more so their beloved pets. Some of the animals are the significant others of humans even married couples. The Naked Bean coffee and bakery shop owner Jayne adopts a Cairn terrier as her mouser to hunt mice when Emma the cat proves to be a watcher only. An elderly canine escorts an orphaned newborn dog to a child. The Widow Peggy tries to find the jewel thief using a cam only to find insider feline thievery. Pets even lower blood pressure by a human adopting a mom and her kitten. There are others who bring joy to the residents such as the Parrot who sings and dances (if Ed Sullivan was alive) and then there are humans who bring nurturing and love to animals like the Eagle Scout who saved ironically the eagle. This is just another moment in the human-animal love affair of Mossy Creek that adds to why the small town of 1700 is special; if you don’t believe me, ask Mayor Ida Hamilton or better yet read the books for a slice of rural southern life.

Similar in tone as the previous Mossy Creek anecdotal tales, CRITTERS OF MOSSY CREEK focuses on the human-animal relationships of the residents as the people get more from the unrequited love and loyalty of their pets. Fans of the saga and pet lovers will fully appreciate the latest entry as all is well in Mossy Creek for a large part due to the animal population.

Harriet Klausner

No comments: