There's a Bear in the Basement Volume 1 (Paperback)

From the author of Touched By All Creatures: Doctoring Animals in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country and Lowell: The True Story of an Existential Pig and Lions & Tigers & Mares-Oh, My comes another riotous book of veterinary adventures. There's a Bear in the Basement serves the reader a cocktail of humor, inspiration, and literary engagement. Set in contemporary America's colorful Pennsylvania Dutch country, the Balliets' is a timeless world seemingly untouched by modern life. Filled with lush scenery, vividly-drawn Dutch folk and, of course, the strange and tender animals of a local zoo and numerous farms, Balliet dramatically recounts medical emergencies and narrowly averted disasters. On the lighter side, she describes adventures with a spiteful, spitting llama named Sambuca; revelry at the annual pot-bellied pig festival, Pig Stock; and veterinary medicine showcasing raccoons, deer, turkeys, and many other unusual, sometimes eccentric, animals. Readers will be charmed by Henry, the rooster, so protective of his goat herd; Minchi Ho, a pot-bellied pig who charms from his owners a cozy nest in the barn alongside the family's show horses; Clampit and See-No-Evil, two of a family of baby raccoons with their own tree-stump "palace"; Thunder, a horse who battles all odds and wins; Struttin' Feather and his mate, Hot Wings, two wild turkeys with an attraction for human company, and many other wonderful and odd animal characters. From the first page, Balliet unites the series of narrative vignettes of day-to-day vet life with the carefree spontaneity, fun, honesty, and humor experienced through life alongside animals.