When Mama Gemma and her puppies need help, one family learns that love is always worth the risk, even when it breaks your heart.
Glenda grew up in a small farming community, where her love for animals began early and never faded. From the beginning, animals taught her about kindness, patience, and unconditional love.
As a mother to her two sons, Lennox and Hendrix, Glenda is passionate about teaching compassion through real-life experiences. Her stories are shaped by everyday moments, quiet courage, and the belief that love, even when it hurts, is always worth choosing.
Gemma is a true story about a mother dog, her puppies, and the family who chose to care for them.
When Gemma is found abandoned and pregnant, the Bard family opens their home and their hearts. What follows is a journey filled with love, responsibility, loss, and hope, teaching children that compassion sometimes asks for courage, and love is always worth choosing.
Lennox learns what it means to care for others.
He helps protect the puppies, makes thoughtful choices, and discovers that love sometimes means doing hard things.
Hendrix leads with his heart.
Through gentle moments and quiet care, he shows how kindness, patience, and love can help someone feel safe.
If Gemma touched your heart, you’re not alone.
Stories like this are meant to be shared, remembered, and talked about.
By Jessica Thomas., book blogger
I finished Gemma at 2 a.m. with tears streaming down my face and my own dog curled in my lap. I couldn’t put it down.
This is the story of a pregnant Rottweiler abandoned on the roadside and the family who stopped for her. Glenda Bard and her boys didn’t just rescue Gemma; they built her a nursery, stayed up through the night when her seven puppies arrived, and loved those little mountains with everything they had.
Then came the parvo. I won’t pretend I wasn’t devastated. When Mammoth and Aspen didn’t make it, I sobbed. But here’s what struck me: the Bards kept going. They didn’t let loss harden them. They loved the survivors harder.
What stayed with me is this line: “Loving and losing is still better than never having loved at all.” I needed to hear that. This book isn’t just about dogs. It’s about choosing love even when it terrifies you. I’ll be thinking about Gemma for a long time.
By Marcus Webb., banker
I read Gemma aloud to my kids over three nights. By the end, we were all crying and holding each other.
The book follows a family that rescues a pregnant dog and raises her puppies. My children were enchanted by the puppy nursery, the names inspired by mountains, the boys reading bedtime stories to tiny furballs. But when the parvo outbreak hit, I almost stopped reading. I wasn’t sure my kids were ready for that kind of loss.
I’m glad I didn’t stop. Watching Lennox and Hendrix grieve gave my children words for feelings they’ve had but couldn’t name. They saw that sadness doesn’t mean love was a mistake. They saw a family holding each other and kept going.
My oldest asked me afterward, “Would you stop for a dog on the side of the road?” I said yes. She smiled. This book gave us that conversation. That’s the power of a good story.
By Eleanor C., retired librarian
I came across Gemma while browsing for something to read on a quiet afternoon. I expected a sweet animal story. What I found was something far more profound.
This book follows a family as they rescue an abandoned pregnant dog and raise her seven puppies through joy, heartbreak, and survival. The writing is gentle but unflinching. When the parvo outbreak claims three of the puppies, the author doesn’t look away. Neither does the family. They grieve openly, honestly, and together.
What moved me most was how the book handles grief without becoming hopeless. The Bards lose something irreplaceable, yet they continue choosing love. That takes the courage most stories shy away from showing.
As someone who has loved and lost animals over a lifetime, this book spoke to my heart. It reminded me that the ache of loss is proof that love was real. I closed it feeling heavier, yes, but also strangely lighter. Some books do that. This is one of them.
