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SUMMER OF LITTLE RAIN by Aileen Fisher

SUMMER OF LITTLE RAIN

By

Pub Date: April 10th, 1961
Publisher: Nelson

Attempting to penetrate the mind and instincts of beaver and squirrel, this narrative depicts realistically and from the animal's viewpoint, detailed seasonal and environmental effects on both these creatures, transferring our attention consistently from one to the other. In the last months of winter, the frozen pond with its overlay of water created a threat to the beaver lodge beneath the surface. Summer drought on the other hand, exposed the lodge entirely and eventually made it necessary for the beaver and her kits to move to another pond and begin the arduous building of a new dam. The squirrel's most pressing problem was gathering adequate food while his mate judiciously taught her young the elements of squirrel-hood. And at all times, simultaneously hovering over the animals of the forest are the dangers of fire, flood, drought and the jaws of a portentous enemy. Certainly a great deal of valuable insight into the ways of the wild is here deftly imparted, but the overall effect is loose and rambling.