NOMINEE 2011 – Toronto Book AwardsWhen Edal Jones wakes to the sound of a mouse on the hardwood floor by her bed, she doesn’t quite know why she says softly, “Hello.” But then, a lot of things have stopped making sense for Edal. As a federal wildlife officer at Pearson International Airport she’s seen everything from goliath bird-eating tarantulas crammed in a briefcase to a California condor “folded up like a sports coat.” So why has the sight of juvenile star tortoises crushed and broken in a grandmother’s luggage suddenly made it impossible for her to go on? That same morning, riding her bike in the empty downtown core, Edal spots a young homeless girl rescuing birds that have knocked themselves out against the glassy office towers. Edal tracks Lily through the city to Howell Auto Wreckers in Toronto’s east end and discovers a new world where the links between people and animals can heal rather than hurt.  Handsome wrecking-yard owner Guy Howell employs Stephen, a young soldier on medical release whose duties include veterinary as well as mechanical tasks. Guy is rehabilitating a weakened red-tailed hawk, while Stephen raises a litter of orphaned raccoons, and Lily comes and goes with her birds and her constant companion, a massive black dog named Billy. All the characters in Fauna are animal lovers in search of something that human cruelty has denied them. As the narrative develops, we learn more about each of them, until they begin to feel like our intimate friends. The circle expands to include a young veterinary technician mourning her lover’s death, then expands again with dramatic consequences for all concerned when a disturbed young man starts taking out his anger and sorrow on the coyotes that live in the Don Valley.  Gently, meditatively, this unique novel delivers a profoundly immersive experience. A new kind of urban writing, Fauna encourages us to look again at the margins and undercurrents of the cities we inhabit, and consider how we treat the other beings who call those spaces home. What’s more, the persuasive beauty of York’s writing, the tenderness of her approach to her characters, and the connections she draws between them invite us to look inward and re-evaluate both the human and the animal within.

Product Description: “I can’t speak for all dogs. Not all dogs are alike. And most certainly, not all dogs have the same experiences. . . .”Squirrel is not like most dogs. Born a stray, she must make her own way in the world, facing busy highways, changing seasons, and humans both gentle and brutal...read more

Set in rural Vermont in 1942, thirteen-year-old Gus has become the caretaker of a group of orphaned duck eggs until a strange, poor girl named Louise suddenly appears and shares the task with him, yet when rumors about his new friend and her family begin to mill through town, Gus has to decide which side he will take as the matter begins to reach a boiling point.

Product Description: Kakuda is an orphaned giraffe who is not old enough to care of himself. He is very hungry but cannot reach the leaves on a tall tree. Suddenly a jeep full of men spot him. Have they come to help or harm Kakuda? Children can watch as an uplifting tale unfolds in the vast grasslands of Africa...read more

Based on a true story, Rickie the chimpanzee--who was illegally put up for sale at a Congolese market as an infant--makes a new friend when she is rescued by a kind man, in a book by the renown naturalist and founder of the Gombe Research Center.

In Idaho, an orphaned filly, rescued by and then separated from a young cowboy, has adventures with various owners and bands of wild horses before being reunited with her old benefactor. Simultaneous.

Abandoned by her mother, Mary the lamb is adopted by Mrs. Paradise, but when Mary's curiosity gets the best of her and begins causing Mrs. Paradise problems with her neighbors, a plan to make all parties happy is put into effect. 20,000 first printing.

Shandy the lamb, rejected by his mother and the other ewes, is cared for by a young boy until he is big enough to try to rejoin the flock of sheep.

The story of a young dolphin separated from his mother during a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico, attacked by a shark, and then rescued by humans who eventually take him to the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut.

Forced from her home by bulldozers, an orphaned baby jackrabbit is rescued by a human family that feeds and shelters her, until the end of summer causes her to think about life in the wild again.

Product Description: This fast and suspenseful survival story (Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books) is the winner of the 1991 Spur Award for best fiction, given by the Western Writers of America. Set in the Montana mountains, the tense plotting will grip adventure lovers...read more

Nana finds an abandoned baby goat, Little Rachell, and nurses her back to health in the kitchen where she cares for all the sick animals she has rescued.

A collection of nine humorous golfing stories tells of an obsessive golfer, an impressive wager, and romance on and off the links