Many people ask what inspired me to write the books that I did, therefore I am going to post a series of blogs explaining why I wrote each book. Also, if you, my loyal readers have a suggestion for a book or an article, please feel free to let me know. I cannot promise that I will write it, but you never know.

I will not comment on my books in the order that they were written but I will cover them all.

The first book that I get the most inquiries about is Faithful Friends: Holocaust Survivors’ Stories of the Pets Who Gave Them Comfort, Suffered Alongside Them, and Waited for Their Return.

This book has won several national awards. They are:

2012: First Place, Dog Writers Association of America.

2012: Second Place Winner, National League of American Pen

                   Women

2012: Finalist, Alliance of Purebred Dog Writers Arthur Award

2012: Certificate of Excellence, Cat Writers Association of America.

The inspiration for this book came from the Diary of Anne Frank. That may be a surprise, but in that account the family risked their lives to hide their cat with them. Had the cat made noise, they could have been discovered. Keep in mind that there was only a wooden floor separating them in the upper room from the people who worked downstairs. There was no insulation to deaden sound.

This made me wonder if there were other stories about pets. I had hoped to get stories about all kinds of animals but only those people who owned dogs and cats responded to my request.

What was amazing to me is that when I interviewed survivors, all of them thanked me for asking and giving them closure. Closure? Then I realized that all the people who responded where children in WWII. They loved their pets just as much as people today, but with all the fear and trauma that they were in the middle of, no one wanted to hear about the fate of pets when so many people were being taken and killed.

The book is broken down by country and in the beginning of each chapter I give a brief outline of what was happening at that time. When younger people read this book, they may not fully understand that there was no television, no computers, and in many cases, no telephone. The only news was through newspapers which were controlled by the Nazi’s and full of propaganda. Many people did not get the newspaper. In many cases the only way people learned about what was happening was by the most unreliable means, word of mouth.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy you can get an autographed copy from my website, www.sbulanda.com  It is also available (not autographed) on Amazon or from the publisher. Please go to my publisher’s website, www.cladach.com to see all their wonderful books.