TO YELLOWSTONE: A Journey Home

by Robert Scott McKinnon ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 30, 1975

One rainy night, Max Smith, a Montana Highway Patrolman, rescues an old monarch elk from a barbed wire fence along the side of the highway. He also encounters a pregnant camel escaped from a circus show, on the same Interstate 90. All part of a night's work. But then the camel escapes into the woods, gives birth to twins, kills a cougar which had attacked her newborn, and is finally recaptured with one baby camel by her trainer, assisted by Max (now astride a camel). The second twin, having wandered away from his mother in the woods, is adopted by the old monarch (remember him?) and his cow (who had recently lost a calf to the now-dead cougar). Motivated by a large reward for the return of the camel calf and by a genuine concern for the well-being of the elk, Max tracks the unlikely trio as they head for Yellowstone National Park, hoping that they reach its sanctuary before the hunting season begins. Max's misadventures are punctuated by peppery conversations with headquarters via police radio. The interactions of the camel and his adoptive parents as chronicled are so farfetched that it is sometimes hard to believe that they really are fictional. But though the author's silliness sometimes goes too far, the stow is unusual and compelling enough so that you really don't care.

Pub Date: Oct. 30, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1975

Categories: FICTION