WILD TRAVELER: The Story of a Coyote

by Alice Hopf ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 27, 1966

He was picked up in Wyoming by some visitors--the Fletcher family--who thought he was a lost puppy dog, he fooled a vet along the way, and finally ended his trip in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Tip, as he was named, was supposed to be Randy Fletcher's pet, but the family lost him just before they reached home. Tip's transient housekeeping arrangements include several stays in the woods and intervals with another boy, a mentally disturbed girl, a zoo, and a return to the Fletchers. Although Tip is presented as more of a wild animal than a tame pet and ends by being sent to a ranch in Texas, his responsiveness toward and excellent memory of the people who care for him seems overly sentimentalized. Joseph Wharton Lippincott's Coyote, the Wonder Wolf (1964) was a more probable handling of a coyote's reactions to life in Pennsylvania. This story is hampered by weaknesses in the characters--the children are obviously and annoyingly childish, the dialogue is self-consciously colloquial, many of the adults overreact to the panic over Tip. The incident involving the neurotic girl who learns to respond to others through her contact with Tip is superficially presented and extraneous. It's an interesting animal for young naturalists, but there's no call of the wild in this coy coyote.

Pub Date: Jan. 27, 1966

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1966

Categories: FICTION