ATTY IN LOVE

When a dedicated animal rights activist gets between a hunky boy and his captive elephant, is heartbreak inevitable?

Fresh from the terrifying and terrific travails detailed in Atty at Law (2020), 13-year-old bisexual girl Atticus T. Peale is currently focused on persuading the authorities of her Alabama county to turn the local dog pound into a no-kill shelter. Her horizons are broadened by near-simultaneous meetings at the county fair with inscrutable, alluring Emory Mumbford and Elizabeth III, the sad-eyed old elephant he gently and lovingly tends on his family’s ranch. For Atty, it’s double love at first sight—but how will Emory respond to her sincere and principled need to see Elizabeth freed? And for that matter, what would “freedom” for an elephant raised in captivity even look like? Into this poignant and funny tale of teen angst, Lockette weaves sensitive, reasoned considerations of both ethical and commonsense animal rights issues on the way to a court date, an imperfect but nontragic resolution, and a decisive split. As a parting gift for concerned readers, the author appends a tantalizingly brief interview with Katherine Meyer, director of Harvard Law School’s Animal Law and Policy Clinic. Atty, her dad, and Emory are white; Atty’s stepmother and little stepbrother are Black.

Serious at heart, but as droll as it is demanding.