Award-winning journalist Brian McGrory goes head to beak in a battle royale with another male for a top-spot in his home, vying for dominance with the family's pet rooster.
Brian McGrory's life changed drastically after the death of his beloved dog, Harry: he fell in love with Pam, Harry's veterinarian. Though Brian's only responsibility used to be his adored Harry, Pam came with accessories that could not have been more exotic to the city-loving bachelor: a home in suburbia, two young daughters, two dogs, two cats, two rabbits, and a portly, snow white, red-crowned-and-wattled step-rooster named Buddy. While Buddy loves the women of the house, he takes Brian's presence as an affront, doing everything he can to drive out his rival. Initially resistant to elements of his new life and to the loud, aggressive rooster (who stares menacingly, pecks threateningly, and is constantly poised to attack), Brian eventually sees that Buddy shares the kind of extraordinary relationship with Pam and her two girls that he wants for himself. The rooster is what Brian needs to be - strong and content, devoted to what he has rather than what might be missing. As he learns how to live by living with animals, Buddy, Brian's nemesis, becomes Buddy, Brian's inspiration, in this inherently human story of love, acceptance, and change.
In the tradition of bestsellers like "Marley and Me, Dewey," and" The Tender Bar" comes a heartwarming and wise tale of finding love in life's second chapter - and how it means all the more when you have to fight for it.
Award-winning journalist Brian McGrory goes head to beak in a battle royale with another male for a top-spot in his home, vying for dominance with the family's pet rooster.
Brian McGrory's life changed drastically after the death of his beloved dog, Harry: he fell in love with Pam, Harry's veterinarian. Though Brian's only responsibility used to be his adored Harry, Pam came with accessories that could not have been more exotic to the city-loving bachelor: a home in suburbia, two young daughters, two dogs, two cats, two rabbits, and a portly, snow white, red-crowned-and-wattled step-rooster named Buddy. While Buddy loves the women of the house, he takes Brian's presence as an affront, doing everything he can to drive out his rival. Initially resistant to elements of his new life and to the loud, aggressive rooster (who stares menacingly, pecks threateningly, and is constantly poised to attack), Brian eventually sees that Buddy shares the kind of extraordinary relationship with Pam and her two girls that he wants for himself. The rooster is what Brian needs to be - strong and content, devoted to what he has rather than what might be missing. As he learns how to live by living with animals, Buddy, Brian's nemesis, becomes Buddy, Brian's inspiration, in this inherently human story of love, acceptance, and change.
In the tradition of bestsellers like "Marley and Me, Dewey," and" The Tender Bar" comes a heartwarming and wise tale of finding love in life's second chapter - and how it means all the more when you have to fight for it.
BRIAN MCGRORY has been a news reporter and columnist for the Boston Globe for almost thirty years, and is now editor. He has won the Scripps Howard and Sigma Delta Chi journalism awards and is the author of four novels. He lives in Massachusetts with his family.
A USA Today Weekend Pick
“Brian McGrory has a sure hand for polished storytelling. He is
able to wring maximum comic effect from the Terrible Pet genre and
also to tell a heartwarming family tale without trying too
noticeably to warm the heart…The subsequent bad-rooster stories,
family discord and grudging acclimation by Mr. McGrory to life in a
menagerie accomplish what is surely the desired end. They put Buddy
into the Marley & Me league of winsome books about the hyped-up
horrors and tender, unexpected rewards of pet paternity.” —New York
Times
“This is a laugh-out-loud read.” —Chicago Tribune
"In this touching tale of how a feisty rooster, who constantly
peers at the columnist through the window, made McGrory a better
man, the columnist succeeds in telling the story of change with a
healthy dose of humor...Lessons are learned here, often the hard
way, but McGrory comes out the other side realizing how second acts
can succeed if you give everyone enough space, love and respect.
Especially the rooster." —USA Today
“Poignant and funny…McGrory takes the pet memoir to a hilarious new
place as a crazed rooster competes with him over who will rule his
new family’s suburban roost…McGrory vividly explores his
frustrations…detailing it all with self-effacing humor and a
winning ability to dramatize the ‘man vs. rooster’ conflict with
scenes that are self-revelatory and laugh-out-loud funny...It turns
out that for McGrory, as it was for Emily Dickinson, hope is a
thing with feathers." —Boston Globe
“Can an ornery rooster really help a city-loving divorce adapt to
family life in the suburbs? McGrory’s memoir will have you
convinced.” —People
"The very best of memoir writing--honest, clear, and so ultimately
moving you feel as if you are best friends with Brian McGrory,
though it will not make you want to run out and buy yourself a
rooster." —W. Bruce Cameron, author of A Dog's Purpose
"At turns hilarious and heart-breaking, Buddy is a book to crow
about.” —Sy Montgomery, author of The Good Good Pig and
Birdology
“A book that makes us laugh and cry is precious, and as a man who
has a rooster and writes about animals, Brian McGrory hit a home
run for me with Buddy: How A Rooster Made Me A Family Man...Anyone
who has ever loved an animal will want to go on this journey.” —Jon
Katz, author of Going Home, A Dog Year, and Dancing Dogs
"Hilarious and heart-warming, Buddy reminded me of Cheaper by
the Dozen, only with animals. I flat-out loved this
book." —Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of
Paranoia and Buried Secrets
“A moving and funny account of one man’s journey from bachelor to
husband and father aided by remarkable pets.” —Publishers
Weekly
"A heartwarming and wise tale of finding love in life’s second
chapter—and how it means all the more when you have to fight for
it." —Library Journal
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