{"product_id":"liberty-biscuit-9781646011254","title":"Liberty Biscuit","description":"\u003cb\u003eDoes a family mystery stand in the way of saving Kip's\u003cbr\u003ebest friend?\u003c\/b\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eKatherine Pearl Baker--\"Kip\" for short--is the only child on\u003cbr\u003eher family's rural peach farm. She longs for a pet to ease the loneliness.\u003cbr\u003eUnfortunately, her father has an angry opposition to all animals--horses in\u003cbr\u003eparticular. Why he dislikes them is a confounding mystery.  \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHiding in the woods on the Fourth of July, Kip encounters a\u003cbr\u003ebedraggled donkey with one eye and a floppy ear. Immediately smitten and\u003cbr\u003ecompelled to protect him, she feeds him biscuits and takes him home. When it is\u003cbr\u003ediscovered the donkey fled an abusive owner, Kip's father finally relents, \u003cbr\u003ereluctantly allowing him to stay.  \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eKip is elated when her grandfather agrees to help her foster\u003cbr\u003ethe donkey, who she names \"Liberty Biscuit,\" along with two emaciated horses\u003cbr\u003eremoved by the local sheriff from the same home, as the cruelty case goes to\u003cbr\u003ecourt. While caring for the animals, Kip's happiness is overshadowed by a\u003cbr\u003eshocking discovery in a trunk in the family farm's hayloft--a faded photograph\u003cbr\u003eof her father as a boy that reveals secrets long kept.  \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA court order to return the horses, and even worse, Kip's\u003cbr\u003ebeloved Liberty Biscuit, to the owner who had starved and beaten them, throws Kip's\u003cbr\u003eworld into turmoil. She knows she must find a way to keep them, or she will\u003cbr\u003ehave betrayed the best friend she has ever had. But saving the animals means\u003cbr\u003erisking the complete unraveling of her family as she exposes the long-buried\u003cbr\u003etruth about a tragic accident and a hurt like she's never known before. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen\u003cstrong\u003e Melanie Sue Bowles \u003c\/strong\u003estumbled across the quote, \"The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose,\" she loved it so much that it became the steadfast philosophy by which she has lived her entire adult life. Unwanted, elderly, and abused horses became her purpose, and she and her husband Jim began Proud Spirit Horse Sanctuary with one horse in need on 5 acres of land in rural Florida. Their facility grew to hundreds of acres in Georgia, and then North Carolina, where rescued animals were allowed to roam as natural herds. Over the years, Melanie and Jim have intervened on behalf of over 300 downtrodden horses, many of them coming to the sanctuary to live out their lives in peace and dignity. Their story has been featured on PBS and in three books Bowles has written about the Sanctuary's animal residents. Bowles comes from a large family, many of whom own horses and love all animals as much as she does, including nieces, nephews, and grandchildren who helped inspire the characters in her first middle-grade novel\u003cem\u003e Liberty Biscuit, \u003c\/em\u003eand now, \u003cem\u003eLittle Pearl\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Trafalgar Square Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51475343802642,"sku":"9781646011254","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_43a9dcb9-5e08-436c-bd7a-0c7963b4efec.jpg?v=1752592968","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/liberty-biscuit-9781646011254","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}