Buster’s Winter Folly has been a labour of love for first-time author Kristin Schumacher.
Schumacher, who had her first rescue cat Charlie at the tender age of three, has volunteered with numerous rescue groups through the years. It was through the Burnaby-based Action for Animals in Distress Society that she met Buster, the inspiration for her newly released children’s book.
“What I am trying to do is to reach out to children,” she said. “This will be the first in a series of books on how to take care of a pet, but not in a lecturing way, more in a story way.”
Schumacher, a longtime volunteer and board member with animal rescue groups, wants to help teach children that animals are not disposable and they have feelings. Because of time constraints, Schumacher said it’s challenging for rescue organizations to get into the schools and teach kids that animals aren’t disposable and have feelings, so she’d love to get the book into the school system.
“The most important thing I want to get through to the readers is it’s not that rescues don’t try to get into the schools to teach, it’s just such a massive job,” she said. “It might be a pipe dream but I am hoping Buster might turn into the poster cat for kids to learn how to take care of a pet, what’s right, what’s wrong.”
Through the years, Schumacher has volunteered with groups including the Royal City Humane Society, Pacific Volunteer Education and Assistance Team, and Action for Animals in Distress.
Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, some local volunteers travelled to the United States to help animals that were left homeless by the disaster. Schumacher stayed at home tending to some of the pets of a volunteer who went to help out in the U.S.
“With Action for Animals in Distress Society, we brought up 15 cats from Katrina,” she said. “That is when I met Buster.”
Exhausted from work that involved late-night runs to the airport and dealing with the bureaucracy involved with getting the animals into Canada, Schumacher told the folks at Action for Animals in Distress Society that she needed to take a step back from that work but she agreed to contact people to foster cats.
“They sent me a batch of photographs, and there was Buster’s picture,” she recalled. “It was a picture of him weighing four pounds, he was missing a front tooth – just like the front cover of the book almost.”
Found on Kingsway in Vancouver by a woman coming home from work, Buster had seen better days. She was allergic to cats and unable to keep him, but contacted Action for Animals.
“I went online to try and place him in a home and nobody wanted him because he wasn’t perfect. He was missing a tooth, he had a broken tail. He couldn’t hold it straight up in the air. Someone had obviously kicked him or he had been hit by a car because he had a stiff leg. He was limping. … He’d been through a very rough time.”
When nobody would take him in, he found a loving home with Schumacher. A graduate of the self-employment program at Douglas College, Schumacher is the owner of a professional pet sitting and dog walking company.
Buster’s Winter Folly tells the story of Buster, a cat who finds a loving home after being abandoned by his previous owner. Captivated by some snowflakes falling outside, he gets outdoors – and goes on an adventure.
New Westminster resident Jeffery Austin Gibson illustrated Buster’s Winter Folly, and fellow Royal City resident Eileen Kernaghan edited the book. Burnaby resident Jan Westendorp designed the book and Peter Toth and his son Hugo proofread the book from their home in Slovakia.
Buster’s Winter Folly is being read in various places around the world including Slovakia, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland, England and the United States. Worldwide, animal rescue groups share the same problems and concerns.
“Most of those people are big animal lovers or are involved in animal rescue,” Schumacher said. “They are fighting the same battles everywhere. It’s definitely an issue all over the world.”
Buster’s legacy is set to continue in the future, as Schumacher has done outlines for three follow-up books.
Locally, Buster’s Winter Folly is available at Alpine Animal Hospital (348 Sixth St.) and the Crest Pharmasave (8697 10th Ave., just across the border in Burnaby). It’s $11.99, and a portion of the proceeds is being donated to
