All Creatures Great and Small

     The book All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot talks about many of his stories of being a country veterinarian and learning the lifestyles of the farmers that he works with. James Herriot is from Scotland but got a job in Yorkshire, England as an assistant to Siegfried Farnon at Skeldale house (the veterinary office as well as the Farnon's home). Herriot is in his 20's and Farnon is in his 30's at the time of the story (20th Century). Herriot loves animals and nature, and Farnon has a strange character and always has to be right. Siegfried has a younger brother, Tristan, who is a veterinarian in training (and is not at all appreciated by his older brother). The book follows some of Herriot's most memorable stories, from a lady called Mrs. Pumfrey and her fat dog Trickie Woo to when he first meet his wife. Some of my personal favorite stories are when a man comes up to Herriot at the movies and starts talking about his cow and how the prescription wasn't working, but Herriot had no idea who the man was so he just kept saying yes.......yes, and nodding his head. I also love Mrs. Pumfrey's names for what her dog is doing, such as flop bot and "he's going crackerdog again!" However, be warned for not all of the stories are funny or happy, some of them are quite sad, from an old man who only had his sick dog left in life to people who can barely afford to feed themselves let alone all of their farm animals.

Book Cover

         All Creatures Great and Small was published in 1962, however the story took place before because its an autobiography of James Herriot's personal life as a veterinarian. Fun fact; the authors name was actually James Alfred Wight  but he had to use a pseudonym so that the book wouldn't seem like an advertisement for the veterinary office (all the other names in the book were fake as well (see if you can figure out the names of the brothers) I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who thinks that they are strong reader because there are many complicated veterinary terms. However if you don't think you're a strong reader or if you just don't like reading watch the BBC television series instead. 

James Alfred Wight (and his dog)