Review of "A Runtamuffin Tale," by Melissa Taylor

Review of

A Runtamuffin Tale, by Melissa Taylor ISBN 9780998988702

Five out of five stars

This is a book about animals on what can be considered a small farm, the title character is the runt of a group of fourteen newly acquired chicks. On this farm, the animals are considered to be part of the family and all of them have their own names. The attitudes of the chickens are developed with this in mind, although they have distinct personalities.

 Once the chicks are large enough to be safer from predators, they are allowed to roam freely, at this time “Bodo,” a Hungarian bird dog, takes over as their protector. There are also horses on this farm and they easily converse with the chickens. The horses are valuable show horses and some have traveled all the way to Europe to compete. When they are told that the horses wear blankets and other fashion accessories, the chickens are jealous and express a desire to also be dressed up.

 The entire farm is presented as a happy family, where all of the animals communicate with each other, yet the humans appear to be oblivious to this. That does not diminish this excellent story about animals of different species that form a society.