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Grady Harp is Amazon’s #7 Reviewer
Sandra J. Gerencher addresses many issues in her well-written, entertaining, informative book Second Chance: How Adoption Saved a Boy with Autism & His Shelter Dog. Not only is thi
s a tale that deserves wide attention among proponents of animal shelters and readers seeking a degree of understanding of autism, it also stands alone as a beautifully illustrated (by Virginia Cody) book for informing children about the concept of adoption.
For this reader this book is one of the finest explanations for sharing the meaning of adoption with youngsters - a definite assist to parents who adopt and are searching for the best way to discuss the topic with their family.
But Gerencher goes further than the usual author of books for children by engaging the reader using a dog’s view of the process. The warmly human ‘lady’ of the story goes to the animal shelter, adopts a German Shepherd/Rottweiler pup that is seemingly unwanted, and takes the pup ‘Chance’ home - adopting (a strange word to the narrator Chance) yet another animal for her houseful of Pomeranians.
The manner in which Chance interacts with his new ‘brothers’ as well as his bonding with the lady’s adopted autistic son Ryan offers the crux of the story, a story that explains the nurturing and care and sense of family that occurs with the concept of the term ‘adoption’.
In Gerencher’s gently elegant style of writing the story avoids being maudlin and instead focuses on the wisdom of both animals and humans in exploring, understanding and integrating Adoption as a means of illustrating an extended family, or in other words a ‘second chance’ at life. And by electing to set the typeface of the narration superimposed on the beautifully realized watercolor-like manipulated photography of each of the dogs and the boy, this book becomes an art piece as well. As with other authors who offer subtitles to their books, Gerencher opens her fountain of knowledge and experience in her addressed fields by adding the subtitle ‘How Adoption Saved A Boy With Autism and His Shelter Dog’. This book is a fine achievement in literature, in children’s books, and in teaching resources for every reader, no matter the age. Highly recommended.
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