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Mercy: The Incredible Story of Henry Bergh, Founder of the ASPCA and Friend to Animals |
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A Junior Library Guild Selection
Age Range: 10 - 12 years Grade Level: 5 - 7 Hardcover: 192 pages Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers (April 5, 2016) ISBN-10: 054465031X ISBN-13: 978-0544650312 Only 150 years ago, most animals in America were subject to horrific treatment. They needed a champion to protect them from abject cruelty, and that person was Henry Bergh. After witnessing the beating of a horse in the streets of New York and attending a bullfight in Spain, Bergh found his calling. He became an enforcer of animal rights and founded the ASPCA, as well as created many animal cruelty laws. He even expanded his advocacy to children. When Bergh died in 1888, the idea that children and animals should be protected from cruelty was widely accepted: “Mercy to animals means mercy to mankind.” Reviews: School Library Connections Nancy Furstinger is best known for the series From the Brink about saving endangered animals, and she continues the important work with this book. Henry Bergh, a product of a wealthy and well educated family, was moved to action. He became the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and his work was also expanded to protecting children. When Bergh died in 1888, the idea of protecting animals and children was commonly accepted. I think this would be an excellent choice for a library. Highly Recommended Booklist Henry Bergh was a man ahead of his time. In the nineteenth century, cruelty to animals was deemed somewhat acceptable, and ethical treatment was not a common cause of activism. His biography, which draws connections to more notorious figures of the day, including Louisa May Alcott, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and P. T. Barnum, is a vivid example of life in New York City before the turn of the century. Intermittent color illustrations enhance the text, while Bergh himself, eccentric, devoted, and tireless, will intrigue young readers with his compassion for creatures with no voices of their own. Kirkus Review Furstinger examines the life of 19th-century animal rights champion Henry Bergh. The author unflinchingly describes the misery of 19th-century urban domestic animals: horses literally worked to death pulling streetcars, dogs forced to fight to death for sport, cows fed an alcoholic distillery mash that poisoned them, their milk, and the infants who drank it. Well-documented, with sidebars on Alcott, Darwin, public health, child labor, and more, Furstinger’s lively narrative fills a void. (maps, period photographs, author’s note, timeline, quotation notes, bibliography, website) School Library Journal Tackling the life of Henry Bergh (1813–88), the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Furstinger provides a satisfying account of an interesting, albeit little-known, figure whose contributions to animal and human rights were substantial. Furstinger creates tension as she describes the vile conditions of animal treatment in the United States and worldwide in the mid-to-late 1800s. VERDICT This suitable biography about a somewhat obscure figure will find many interested readers and is unlikely to duplicate existing collection offerings. Publishers Weekly From a dramatic opening involving a dogfight through the final chapter detailing the current efforts of the ASPCA, this well-researched biography of the organization’s founder, Henry Bergh (1813–1888), contains abundant information illustrating the evolution in attitudes about the treatment of animals. Through vignettes highlighting a range of animals—horses, dogs, sea turtles, cows, pigeons, circus elephants—Furstinger (The Forgotten Rabbit) demonstrates the scope of Bergh’s anti-cruelty efforts. The Horn Book While in St. Petersburg, Bergh witnessed a man cruelly beating his horse: “I…heard the cries as if they were the suffering of a tortured human. This burned like a brand in my soul.” Thus Bergh stopped dabbling and became an animal protectionist, establishing an agency much like the newly formed RSPCA in England; championing the passage of an animal anti-cruelty law; and gaining the authority to find and arrest those in violation of the new statute, a responsibility he fulfilled every day. In short chapters, Furstinger details these events, allowing descriptions of specific incidents of mistreatment of animals—blood sports of dog- and cockfighting, horses struggling to pull overloaded railway cars, the use of bull hooks on circus elephants— and Bergh’s very public interventions to create drama and tension. {Awarded "Biggest Animal Lover" superlative} Bulletin Furstinger is a thorough documentarian, and her focus on specific scenes (Bergh regularly accosted offenders in the street, often arresting them) makes for a dramatic and absorbing account. Featured on WAMC Northeast Public Radio's Book Picks (listen at 10:30): http://wamc.org/term/book-picks-0 and Babbling Books: https://anchor.fm/lily-raper/episodes/Nancy-Furstinger-e5mkfl Read more about Henry Bergh: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/aspcas-founder-was-known-great-meddler-180962792/ https://www.creators.com/read/kids-home-library/10/16/heroes-for-boys-and-girls http://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-daily/2016/03/14/learning-about-people-and-their-dreams http://mentalfloss.com/article/83078/retrobituary-henry-bergh-founder-aspca http://imaginationsoup.net/best-books-11-year-olds/nonfiction-books-for-11-year-olds/ http://www.hbook.com/2017/04/blogs/out-of-the-box/earth-day-2017/ http://booksforkidsblog.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Angel+in+A+Top+Hat%3A+Mercy%3A+The +Incredible+Story+of+Henry+Bergh+by+Nancy+Furstinger http://www.chronogram.com/hudsonvalley/2016-young-readers-roundup/Content?oid=2367693&showFullText=true http://vegbooks.org/ https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/2019/08/stem-tuesday-pets-book-list/ |
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