True Animal Tales

by Rolf Harris, Mark Leigh, Mike Lepine

Gathers the true and sometimes humorous stories of animal rescues, animals who made it home from remarkable distances, and animals who served honorably in battle

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals

176 pages, Paperback

First published December 9, 1996

About the author

Rolf Harris was a British-Australian musician, singer, composer, painter, a television host and personality.

Harris is most known for his novelty song "Tie my kangaroo down sport".

Reviews

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been watching the trial of Rolf Harris with great interest and now that he has been found guilty on a number of child sex abuse charges, will be posting this “review” on each of his books on my shelves. A reader who is not Australian or British is probably going find it difficult to appreciate the shock many feel regarding Harris’ behaviour. Like me, many Australians grew up watching the iconic Rolf Harris on TV, singing his songs and laughing at his jokes. We have loved him and rewarded him for the entertainment he brought to the nation. For me personally, Rolf Harris was somewhat of a hero, and one of my earliest TV memories is of him singing I’m Jake the Peg. I was horrified when I heard the allegations against him, but I wanted to hold off on any comments until a verdict had been reached. Now that it has, I will be disposing any of his books that I own. However, I won’t be changing my ratings on these books. These were read of course without any knowledge of Harris’ crimes, and I’d like to keep that record of my readings and my appreciation of them at that time, even though I would not be able to read them now.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The large print of this book and short anecdotes and stores made this book a good one to read while on the treadmill at the gym. It was nicely balanced between historic stories and 'current' stores, 'current' being in reference to the 1997 publishing date.
Being that Rolf Harris is a British TV host, I don't believe I have ever seen his show, but some of the stories were familiar, so I'm going to presume he's pulled some from what would be considered 'viral' today, things you'd read about on Yahoo News or see a video report about on YouTube.
The stories are often British-centric, but there are also many from around the world. Therefore when Harris talks about animals that have found their way home from city A to city B, I had no concept of the distance as I would if he said the animal went from Seattle to Miami. Likewise, without knowing the quirks of these places as well as his main audience would, I probably missed some of the background that livened up the tales.
I may have liked longer stories, as most of them are a paragraph or 2 long, so I would get through them quickly and then be on to another without it sinking in.
All in all, a nice book to read and enjoy in spurts to fit with my exercise routine, and it made me want to see if he's still doing the show and if it's aired on a station my cable company carries.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quick read...most of the stories are a paragraph long...but they tell a wide range of funny, poignant, sad, and amazing tales about animals qua themselves and their relationships to people. They made me ask questions like, "Is intelligence the same thing among animals as it is among people?" and "What leads animals to protect humans - or each other - when it is against nature or survival to do so?"

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this book, as I always love stories about animals. Great book!

[Carmen · Rating 1 out of 5]

each case is told in a short paragraph and there are so many of them that after reading a few I lost all interest

[Kirstie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heartwarming book for anyone who loves their furry (or feathery) friends.