This beautifully illustrated anthology contains stories of many donkeys – the majority of which have been taken into care by The Donkey Sanctuary at its various sanctuaries throughout Europe, as well as some who have been cared for by the Charity's teams who work overseas. Each letter of the alphabet is covered and in each there are two parts – the first part is about donkeys whose names begin with that letter and the second part concerns donkey facts, people and places. We learn about Naughty Face, the donkey who started it all, and her companion Angelina; the children who have benefited from the work of The Elisabeth Svendsen Trust for Children and Donkeys and lots of little known facts – such as the zeedonk is the offspring of a male zebra and female donkey. The work of The Donkey Sanctuary in countries where it is active is also covered. This charming hardback book is a fitting tribute to the life and work of a remarkable woman.
The late Dr Elisabeth Svendsen MBE was born in 1930 in West Yorkshire and died in May 2011 shortly after completing this book. She founded The Donkey Sanctuary in 1973 and over 14 500 donkeys have been taken into care since then. The Charity's work overseas has enabled hundreds of thousands of working donkeys in developing centres around the world to receive veterinary and farriery treatment and their owners to be given harness training and educational support.
Dr Svendsen also founded The Elisabeth Svendsen Trust for Children and Donkeys, which provides riding therapy for children with special educational needs and disabilities in Centres based around the UK. Her work has been recognised with an MBE in 1980 and she has written numerous books, including The Complete Book of the Donkey, which has been translated into three languages.