Saving Samantha

September 1, 2004
Gr 1-4-In this follow-up to their Adopted by an Owl (Sleeping Bear, 2001), a husband-and-wife team share the story of an injured fox cub they nursed on their Michigan farm and returned to the wild. Snippets from the actual diary the author kept during the experience pepper the text, linked together by a narrative that relates how Samantha became part of the family's life. The story begins when they find the cub caught in a trap one spring. By autumn, the family members know that it is time to reintroduce her to the wild, and they watch her from afar as she finds a mate and has a litter of pups. Through it all, the painterly illustrations capture the magnificence of the natural world with glowing colors of light and shadow. Text and pictures capture the inevitable cycles of nature and show respect for the natural world as well as the very real sadness of letting go of an animal friend. An excellent resource for ecology units or discussions of animal life cycles.-Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Maryland School for the Deaf, Columbia

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2004
K-Gr. 2. The author and illustrator live on a 40-acre farm in Michigan where they rehabilitate animals and return them to the wilderness. This focuses on a fox pup named Samantha, rescued from a trap by the author and her dog. The text, peppered with diary entries, traces Samantha's recovery as she goes from being almost a pet to a fully functioning wild fox, with a mate and pups of her own. The text is awkward in places, especially as the narrative and diary entries are often in different tenses, but the story itself is so interesting that grammar seems a quibble. The robust illustrations also do their part to intrigue and attract--from the oversize picture of Samantha on the cover to the spread of the pups near the end of the book. Yet both text and art stick to the gritty facts: when Samantha kills the family rooster, Igor, it's clearly shown in the art. A solid, personalized introduction to the cycle of life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)