Ria is a little girl whose family migrated from the Caribbean to New York City. Back home, her animals were her friends. But in New York City, she finds herself bored to tears. That is until her neighbor, Mrs. Blum, takes her to visit the cathedral on Saint Francis Day. St. Francis declared 700 years ago that animals and people shall live together in perfect harmony. So, every year on the first Sunday in October, people bring their pets to the Cathedral to be blessed. Ria has a duck. It does not belong to her, but she brings him to the altar just the same. Just to see the variety of animals, from dogs to elephants, made her gleem with delight. ( )

Each year, in New York City, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, the blessing of animals occurs.

With a large host of animals, including a very large elephant, the procession begins. Slowly meandering from the large Gothic door, down the aisle and up to the altar, the animals make their way to be blessed.

The incredible sounds of Paul Winter's soprano saxophone, as the notes soar to throughout the world's largest Gothic cathedral, provide a deeply spiritual element as the majestic parade of the animals wind their way for the blessing.

This wonderfully illustrated book celebrates the real-life event which occurs on the first Sunday of October, with the story line of a young girl who experiences the magnitude of the event for the first time as she processes down the aisle with a wild goose in hand. ( )

one of the stupidest book i've ever read! loren long must have been desperate. ( )