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FIGHT FOR LIFE: Maggie
Wild at Heart, No. 1
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Pleasant Company
ISBN: 1584850434
Ages 8-10
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FIGHT
FOR LIFE is the first book in the new Wild at Heart series about a
group of animal clinic volunteers, published by the creators of the
American Girl™ books. In this debut novel, we meet Maggie, who lives
at the Wild at Heart Animal Clinic owned and run by her grandmother,
veterinarian J.J. MacKenzie. We're also introduced to the other young
veterinary volunteers who will play prominent roles in future Wild
at Heart books --- Sunita, David, Brenna, and Zoe.
Maggie's parents were killed in a car accident when she was a baby,
and she has lived with her grandmother ever since. Of course Maggie
and Gran are both animal lovers, so Maggie's basset hound, Sherlock
Holmes and Gran's cat, Socrates, are part of the family. They share
the house and clinic space with all the animals that Dr. MacKenzie
treats or boards, too, like dogs, cats, hamsters, mice, rabbits, and
lizards. Kids at school think Maggie has it great living with all
these animals. So does Maggie. She likes working at the clinic lots
better than going to school. But Gran lays down the law: Maggie can't
help around the clinic anymore until she improves her grades. In the
meantime Gran lets Brenna volunteer at the clinic, to do Maggie's
chores while Maggie does homework. As you can imagine, Maggie is not
happy about losing her place at the clinic.
Things get worse when Maggie's cousin Zoe comes to stay with her and
Gran. Zoe is a bit spoiled; she's used to housekeepers, private schools,
and trips to Switzerland. Maggie doesn't like her much, but Gran likes
her a lot.
As bad as all this is, though, Maggie forgets about everything else
when the puppies start to arrive. First, a woman brings in a black
Labrador retriever pup that she bought at the farmer's market. It's
almost dead. Then a man brings in two more scrawny little puppies
that he bought for his children at the same farmer's market. Finally,
a lady brings in six collie puppies and a tiny mutt that she bought.
How can all these puppies from the same place be so sick? Gran has
her hands full trying to save all of them; she needs Brenna, Maggie,
and Zoe --- and she asks Maggie's schoolmates, David and Sunita, to
help her, too.
Maggie is detemined to find the man responsible for running the "puppy
mill," (a place where puppies are bred in cruel, unhealthy conditions)
that she believes has produced all these sick puppies. But to accomplish
this, she will have to visit libraries, do research, and read books.
Maggie is not good at any of this, and she doesn't like to let people
know how hard schoolwork is for her. If she's going to shut down the
puppy mill, though, she needs someone to help her. Can she find somebody?
Will she be able to find the man who sold all the puppies? And can
she bring up her grades so she can work in the clinic again? Will
Gran decide they don't need the other vet volunteers, so Maggie can
have things back the way they were? You'll enjoy reading this book
to find out.
--- Reviewed by Tamara Penny
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