Liberty Biscuit
by Melanie Sue Bowles
Hi! Have you ever wanted something that your parents wouldn’t let you have? I’m sure you have at some point in your life! Well, Kip finds a donkey in the woods and really wants to keep it, but her dad won’t let her.
It’s a normal day for Kip Baker. She’s out in the woods with some peach biscuits when she runs into a bedraggled, old donkey. They become instant best friends and she leads him back to her house. When she gets up to the house, her mom sees the donkey and thinks that Kip’s dad will never let her keep it. He says that they will call the police and see if anyone is missing a donkey. Then, if he doesn’t belong to anyone, they can keep him. Kip decides to name the donkey Liberty Biscuit, because he was found on the 4th of July and he came to her because of her biscuits.
Kip’s dad calls the Sherrif and he says that Liberty Biscuit is likely the donkey that he recently confiscated from a man who was abusing his animals. Sherrif Ronnie confirms that the donkey is the same one. He asks the Bakers if they would be willing to take care of Liberty Biscuit and two horses while there is a trial to see if the owner will get the animals back. At first, Kip’s dad is hesitant to accept the animals. However, there is one thing that changes his mind. Grandpa Joe hasn’t been truly happy since Grandma Pearl passed away. But, when Liberty Biscuit begins to bray, he laughs for the first time in a very long time.
Kip and Grandpa Joe work on cleaning out the barn for the animals. While they’re in there, Kip discovers a faded photograph. The photo is of her dad when he was young and another boy named Henry on horses. Kip wonders who Henry is. If something happened to him, why wouldn’t they keep his memory alive like Grandma Pearl’s? She decides to keep Henry to herself for the time being.
Kip hangs out with Liberty Biscuit and the horses all the time and gets to know them and be friends with them. They are her companions. However, Sherrif Ronnie comes to the farm one day with bad news that rocks her world! The judge has ruled that the owner can get the animals back. Kip is forced to give up her beloved Liberty Biscuit and her other two horses to the abusive owner who starved them.
My favorite part of the book was seeing the relationship between Grandpa Joe and Kip. Grandpa Joe had been upset and in his own world for a long time after Grandma Pearl’s death. Liberty Biscuit helped connect Kip and Grandpa Joe and it was fun to watch.
This book is very unique. However, it does share some qualities with E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. In both stores, there is a loving owner who doesn’t want to give up the animal that they have bonded with. In both of these stories, there is a very personal attachment the readers have to both Wilbur and Liberty Biscuit.
Will Kip ever see Liberty Biscuit again? Who is Henry? And why would he be hidden from Kip? Will this story just end in devastation or will we get a happy ending? As I always say, read the book to find out!
A few helpful things I like to say about the books I read:
“Run and Get Mom” (how I describe the scariness factor – zero being not scary at all and five being majorly scary): 1
“Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor – zero having no yucky-lovey parts in it and five having major yucky-lovey parts): 3
I give this book 5 wands.
This book was extremely heart-rending! I found myself moved to tears when Kip had to lead Liberty Biscuit into the truck to go back to his previous owner. This book also made me laugh at Kip’s relationship with her family. There are mixed emotions and it all blends together to make one beautiful story!
Source: Review Copy
Below is the book trailer: