[Engineer of Beasts] has a gritty strength and appeal, with humor that tempers the bleakness of the characters' situations. . . . [Sanders] is a skilled writer well able to challenge and intrigue his readers.
― School Library Journal

Sanders takes readers on a whirlwind tour of a future Earth, where cities are domed for protection against the deadly environment and the only animals are machines in the local "disneys," or mechanized zoos. . . . Beautifully written, this book is alternately funny and poignant and filled with memorable characters.
― Publishers Weekly

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After decades of abuse transforms the world into a toxic wasteland, people flee into the safety of a global network of domed cities. Within these safe, orderly spaces, the only animals allowed are machines in the new world's mechanized zoos, called disneys. Orlando Spinks prides himself on keeping his father's disney spotless and orderly, until 13-year-old Mooch explodes into his life and down the throat of a mechanized lion.

Mooch quickly wriggles her way into Orlando's heart with her creative mechanical genius, fiery spirit, and passion for real animals. As her rebellious spark spreads to Orlando, they restore the wild spirit to the mechanical beasts, but catch the eye and ire of the Overseers.

Beautifully written, The Engineer of Beasts brings together the best of Scott Russell Sanders's environmental wisdom with skilled world-building and beloved characters.

Scott Russell Sanders

An award-winning author of over 20 books of fiction and nonfiction with an environmental focus. Sanders's work has been compared to that of Emerson and Thoreau, as well as to that of Wendell Berry and Annie Dillard.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Brown University and his Ph.D. in English from the University of Cambridge. He spent his teaching career at Indiana University, where he was a Distinguished Professor of English.

Sanders has received the Lannan Literary Award, the Associated Writing Programs Award in Creative Nonfiction, the Great Lakes Book Award, the Kenyon Review Literary Award, the John Burroughs Essay Award, and the Indiana Humanities Award, among other honors, and he has received support for his writing from the Lilly Endowment, the Indiana Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature named him the 2009 winner of the Mark Twain Award; in 2010 he was named the National Winner of the Glick Indiana Authors Award; in 2011 the Fellowship of Southern Writers presented him with the Cecil Woods, Jr. Award in Nonfiction; and in 2012 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.