Fight for life

By: Laurie Halse Anderson
Review by: Nicia

The story takes place in a veterinarian’s office owned
by the narrators grandmother. The whole story talks
a lot about taking care of animals and treating them
with tender loving care.

The story is narrated by a girl named Maggie who is the main character. She resembles me a lot because of her love for animals and her personality. She is always willing to put things aside in order to take care of animals that are abandoned or sick. She is lucky to have a grandmother who is a vet and that teachers her the importance of school and priorities. Her parents died in a car crash, her grandmother took care of her, this is the only home she remembers.

I like this book because there is a lot of information about dogs, cats, skunks and other animals. I learned that puppy mills are against the law, information about the health of puppies, the plants that are dangerous if eaten, symptoms of sick puppies and especially that puppies are a big responsibility, all this while I was enjoying the story.

I think this story was very good because it made me read the whole book without stopping. It kept me wanting to read. There was a lot of description and it felt as if I was there with the characters. The dialogue was realistic and she used simple words that we use every day. While I was reading, I felt sad for all the puppies being mistreated. But it also made me happy to read that when you take care of an animal, you can love it back to health.

I can connect to this because I want to become a vet too so I work hard to get my grades up and have fun with my friends. Sometimes, obstacles are in my way but I fight and get through. Maggie has to raise her marks to be a vet one day but her biggest fear just became reality: A puppy mill. The right time for an obstacle. Will she ever get an A? Will her grandma eventually let her be or will the clinic be changed forever??

My favourite part is when Maggie finds the puppy mill and the man running it gets arrested. Maggie had noted down that it is illegal to run a puppy mill, to breed un-certified puppies and have more than 5 litters in his possession. The police officer wanted the
man to only pay a fine but Maggie insisted that he be arrested.

I would suggest this book to any animal lover because the whole topic of this book is about animals and vets, how to learn by your mistakes and always make the right choices.

Hope you enjoy your reading!!