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The Sheep On The Fourth Floor by Leonie Thorpe

Fourteen year old Anna is a well-behaved and obedient child who is horrified when she organises a school trip to her mother’s laboratory and finds out that they experiment on live animals. A sheep is being held on the fourth floor of the secure building, away from all the things that make life good for a sheep, and it will be killed and dissected once Anna’s mother’s experiment is finished.

If this isn’t enough to rock her world, Anna also discovers her father has his own secret. What follows is her way of dealing with her own moral dilemma.

Sheep On The Fourth Floor is quite literally about a sheep on the fourth floor of a hospital. It is kept in an animal laboratory where it is used for experiments. These experiments could ultimately help the health of humans. The story is obviously about the topic of ethics of animal experimentation, but also covers themes of deceit, family bonds, courage, and trust. It is about growing up and being able to make personal decisions, some of them very difficult ones, independent of adult opinion.

Early in the book Anna’s only dilemma is whether to help a cicada trapped in a spider’s web or let the spider have its meal, but this dilemma is mirrored and magnified by the sheep on the fourth floor. It also shows readers that not everything is as black and white as it might first seem.

RRP $19.99
Published and distributed by HarperCollins Publishers
 

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