The most recommended sheep books

Having watched shepherdess Emma Gray on the BBC, I was so taken by her farming passion and charismatic personality that I was keen to read her memoirs.

One Girl and Her Dogs is the first of two installments and it’s a wonderful mix of wit, grit, and refreshing honesty. Whilst reading it I was totally immersed in her world and found myself in awe of her gumption and determination to make the best out of whatever her farm, her animals, and Mother Nature decided to throw at her.

When casting characters for my own murder series, I decided to lend Jude, my female farmer, Emma’s surname to try and channel some of her tenacity and drive.

This is one of my all-time favorite books.

Why?

First, I love sheep. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I identify with all of Jesus’ examples about those simple creatures.

And I get that I need as much of God's help as they do.

Second, I love the way Keller applies the gospel to his life as (a shepherd) in helpful and practical ways that help readers more fully understand what Jesus meant by what He said.

Just talking about this book makes me want to go back and read it again.

If you’re a dog person, Keller also wrote a similar book called Lessons from a Sheep Dog. That’s a good one, too! (Please don't tell my sheep dog I recommended the sheep book over of the dog book. ☺️)

This fantasy novel is about a girl who can’t cope with the lack of attention she’s receiving since her baby brother was born. He is very ill and has to use an inhaler so Merel’s parents are always tired and don’t notice her. The story is engrossing and heartwarming as Merel has become so angsty that she refuses to sleep and does nothing but scream. Eventually, she loses the ability to sleep at all. During a trip to a fantasy land to try to get her lost sleep back so she can be normal, Merel learns to accept her family and to feel affection for her baby brother. The story deals with regression about a new sibling in a fascinating way.

This is Niven’s first non-fiction book, a memoir that revolves around the memory and suicide of his brother.

As Niven succeeds in life, going from university to a touring band and onto a lucrative position in the music industry, his black sheep brother dabbles in drug dealing and petty crime, and ends up chronically broke and depressed.

There’s lots of music running through this coming-of-age tale, from punk and indie to rave, but when the party ends the hangover is harsh. It’s a poignant tale of the quiet epidemic of male suicide, and the final chapter written in his brother’s voice as he takes his own life is as compelling as it is disturbing.

Even now people refer to the parable of the one lost sheep that Jesus told over 2000 years ago—how a shepherd leaves 99 sheep to find the one that’s missing.

With her picture book, Sassi takes a beloved Bible story and adds rhyme and a counting element to the joy of young readers. It’s easy to imagine how “Little Ewe” falls away from the flock while chasing frogs and spying on sparrows. He’s happy to count his new friends and discover the big world around him until he realizes it’s dark and 10 spooky owl eyes are staring back at him from the trees.

Good news, though. The shepherd, like our Heavenly Father, knows where to look for his one lost sheep, so we have hope Little Ewe will arrive home again. 

In the era of Bridgerton and in the wake of 2005’s Pride and Prejudice film, my heart has been swallowed whole by regency era period pieces.

This novel has the best banter I have ever read. The female lead, Abigail, considers herself a spinster (in her *gasp* late twenties) and thus past the age of romance. She resigns herself to caring for her very high-maintenance relatives. Until she meets Mr. Calverleigh.

She is so determined to loathe him, but can’t help but be charmed by his conversation. I loved watching this independent woman learn to put herself first and reluctantly fall in love with the last person she expected.

From a wild sheep chase to a grand old treasure hunt that gripped a nation, the Quest for the Golden Hare tells the real-life story of one of the most famous book-related escapades in recent memory. 

In 1979, British artist Kit Williams published Masquerade – a cryptic storybook containing clues to the whereabouts of an 18-carat gold hare trinket that Williams buried somewhere in the English countryside. Author Bamber Gascoigne was the only other person present at the burial, and was tasked with documenting the frankly bonkers lengths the crazed fans would go to uncover it.

I’m loath to mention the pandemic again, but in these times, when most of us are going stir crazy and are itching for an adventure, this book might just be the next best thing. (Bonus points if you can source a copy of Masquerade while you’re at it, which I believe has been… show more.

I loved Betsy Byars’s books growing up. Being English, these American childhoods were so fascinatingly different! The Midnight Fox is a funny, bittersweet story of city boy Tom falling in love with the wildlife of the forest – and most of all with the beautiful midnight fox and her cub. But by making them more familiar with humans, he ends up attracting them closer to the farm and putting them in danger – it’s such a heartbreaking, beautiful book.

I’m partial to stories that create a set of beliefs and identities for animals. Martine Leavitt does this in a way that’s at once simple and profound. Tuk is a fantastic character that young readers will relate to and root for. If your child liked Pax and A Wolf Called Wander they will love this book.

This beautiful nonfiction book is a chronicle of four seasons spent following the desert bighorn sheep who live throughout the Southwest.

Even if you’re thinking, “Hmm, I’m really not that interested in sheep,” this book transcends its subject, weaving together science, imaginative observation, and personal reflection. She probes deeper, contemplating how humans connect with the more wild creatures on the animal spectrum.

The late Ellen Meloy was a lyrical writer, and all of her books are worth a read, but I especially love this book. Here’s a quote to give you a taste of her writing: “Each time I look into the eye of an animal...I find myself staring into a mirror of my own imagination.”