The Disability Book Archive

[ID: A book cover. The title “Rescue & Jessica” is written in large red writing at the top of the cover. The subtitle “A Life-Changing Friendship” is written in smaller black writing directly below this. The names of the authors “Jessica Kensky” and “Patrick Downes” are written in the lower left corner in black capitals. The name of the illustrator “Scott Magoon” is written in the lower right corner in black capitals. The background shows art of a young girl and black dog on the right side of the cover. The dog has a red service dog vest and lead. The girl has prosthetic legs below the knees, grey shirts, a yellow long-sleeved shirt, blue body warmer and long brown hair tied back. On the left side of the cover, faint art of a green field with flowers and a faint yellow coloured city scape. /end]

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Content Warning:

• Grief
• Medical Content

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Summary:

Based on a real-life partnership, the heartening story of the love and teamwork between a girl and her service dog will illuminate and inspire.

Rescue thought he’d grow up to be a Seeing Eye dog — it’s the family business, after all. When he gets the news that he’s better suited to being a service dog, he’s worried that he’s not up to the task. Then he meets Jessica, a girl whose life is turning out differently than the way she’d imagined it, too. Now Jessica needs Rescue by her side to help her accomplish everyday tasks. And it turns out that Rescue can help Jessica see after all: a way forward, together, one step at a time. An endnote from the authors tells more about the training and extraordinary abilities of service dogs, particularly their real-life best friend and black lab, Rescue.

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Notes:

Kensky and Downes are both survivors of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Though I don’t believe the bombing is mentioned in the book, the story is inspired by Kensky’s own experiences in recovering after the bombing and developing a relationship with her own service dog. I believe Magoon, the illustrator, was also running in the marathon on the day of the bombing.

This book won the 2019 Scheider Family Book Award for Young Children.

There is an audiobook.

There is an ebook. There is a kindle edition.

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Archivist Comments:

I don’t what else to say other than that this book seems to be fairly loved by the people who have reviewed it. The art is apparently gorgeous, and both the dog and the author have a voice to tell their story. It sounds sweet.

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