Book Giveaway: UNSTOPPABLE by Nancy Furstinger

Nancy Furstinger has a new book, UNSTOPPABLE: True Stories of Amazing Bionic Animals. She has agreed to give away a copy to one lucky winner. All you have to do to get in the running is to leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Just let me know the other things you did to share the good news, so I can put in the right amount of tickets in my basket for you. Check back to discover the winner.

Unstoppable: True Stories of Amazing Bionic Animals

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Chris P. Bacon was born with malformed legs, but with the help of a wheelchair made of construction toys, he’s become a hero to people with similar challenges.

Nancy Furstinger profiles Chris P. Bacon and many other animals in Unstoppable—all of whom are making their way around with the help of prosthetics, braces, orthotics and wheelchairs! While reading these stories of perseverance and hope, readers will meet the caretakers, prosthetists, vets, and loving families that help to make recovery possible. Furstinger offers a glimpse into the cutting-edge technologies, such as 3D printing and brain-controlled prosthetics, that are helping to improve the lives of animals and humans alike.

Chris P. Bacon was born with malformed legs, but with the help of a wheelchair made from construction toys, this pig has become an Internet sensation and a hero to people coping with similar challenges.

Found crammed in a truck with thirty other potential pet alligators, Mr. Stubbs lost a tail to a fellow hungry gator. With a combination of movie magic and cutting edge science, Mr. Stubbs now has the world’s first prosthetic alligator tail – and a new chance at life.

 A quadruple-amputee Rottweiler named Brutus was the victim of neglect and, as a result, horrible frostbite. Now, he’s winning awards—and hearts—for the inspiration and excitement he inspires by living with four prosthetics.

 As Nancy writes, “These uplifting stories show that physically challenged animals can adapt to almost any circumstance. They celebrate what it means to be considered ‘different,’ and demonstrate that there’s no such thing as normal.”

 

BOOK’S JOURNEY:

The idea for UNSTOPPABLE percolated in my brain for many years. I had adopted two Flemish giant rabbits, each missing an opposite back leg; I noticed how LuLu Belle and Woody persisted despite challenges. Suddenly I was encountering other unstoppable animals, including a paralyzed rabbit in a homemade wheel cart who I profiled in ASPCA KIDS: KIDS MAKING A DIFFERENCE FOR ANIMALS and two military working dogs, each of whom lost a front leg, whose stories I featured in PAWS OF COURAGE: TRUE TALES OF HEROIC DOGS THAT PROTECT AND SERVE. But it wasn’t until I visited Woodstock Farm Sanctuary and saw a goat in a wheel cart, a calf with leg braces, and a sheep with a prosthetic leg (along with the founder who proudly wore her steampunk prosthetic leg and was tailed by her tripod dog) that I started visualizing this book. I was amazed at the variety of unstoppable animals from around the world (everything from a guinea pig up to an elephant) that I discovered. I also profiled three animal prosthetic creators and their amazing careers, which suddenly emphasized STEM connections.

I knew I needed an animal-friendly publisher and so requested that my agent submit it to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which had just published my bio: MERCY: THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF HENRY BERGH, FOUNDER OF THE ASPCA AND FRIEND TO ANIMALS. And I was thrilled that my editor there acquired this book and came up with the great idea to wrap the story of the Woodstock Farm Sanctuary animals around the other featured animals. But my book’s journey to publication did hit bumps: I had to learn the math behind digital images to make certain that they had a high enough resolution for publication. (Non- fiction authors are expected to supply high-res photos along with the manuscript. I begged and borrowed, paid for several, and shot some myself, even getting gored by an angry cow in the process!) From concept to publication (October 10, 2017) took years, during which I kept checking to see if anyone else had come up with this terrific topic (I already knew that there were 2 picture books focusing on 2 of the animals I profiled). Along the way the title was changed (it was originally INSPIRING) and so was the cover design. The book was honored as a Junior Library Guild selection and has received positive reviews. And now comes the fun part: sharing my book with young readers—I created my first PowerPoint presentation to introduce them to the animals and even bring along actual prosthetic legs used by dogs and sheep! Maybe some kids in the audiences will be inspired to adopt physically challenged animals, or to consider a career as a veterinarian or prosthetic maker.

NANCY’S BIO:

Nancy Furstinger has been speaking up for animals since she learned to talk, and she hasn’t shut up yet. She is the author of many books, most on her favorite topic: animals! She started her writing career in third grade, when her class performed a play she wrote while recovering from chicken pox. Since then, Nancy has been a feature writer for a daily newspaper, a managing editor of trade and consumer magazines, and an editor at two children’s book publishing houses. She volunteers for an assortment of humane societies and rescue groups and shares her home with big dogs, house rabbits, and a chinchilla (all rescued), and volunteers and fosters pets for several animal organizations. Learn more about her dual passions–animals and writing–at: http://www.nancyfurstinger.com/

Thank you, Nancy for sharing your book and journey with us. It looks like an very interesting book. I am sure the winner will think so, too.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy