April 10, 1866: The ASPCA is founded.

Michael Northrop's Rotten, of course, would be a perfect book to commemorate the founding of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, but as I wrote about that one so recently, I feel like it would be cheating to highlight it in one of these posts.

And as I mostly avoid animal books, I'm blanking on another one that focuses on animal rescue specifically. (I'm sure that some of you will have plenty to suggest in the comments, though! *coughElizacough*) For now, though, I'll point you back to Tallulah Falls, a story about a girl who heads out on a mission of mercy, gets robbed and abandoned, and then is taken in by the staff of a local veterinary clinic:

[Fletcher] reminded me of other authors: a bit like Joan Bauer, in that girl-has-a-job-that-is-a-huge-part-of-her-life-oh-and-there's-a-boy-who-works-there-too kind of way, a chunk of the Crutcher grittiness, a bit of Sarah Dessen's talent for creating a likable but imperfect main character. 

But Tallulah Falls doesn't have the same Bauer gentleness or Dessen's everything-is-eventually-going-to-work-out-don't-worry-too-much feel. Or, for that matter, a Chris-Crutcher-totally-lovable-good-guy hero. It's harsher and much darker. As the book progresses, there's an impending doom sort of feel.