Loon Chase
by Jean Heilprin Diehl; illustrate by Kathryn Freeman
Talk about heart-stopping action. There are no cop chases, aerial dogfights or exploding starships in this book, but count on it to set your pulse racing. Heilprin Diehl creates the most panic-inducing plot imagineable to a young mind: two iddy biddy baby loon chicks in mortal peril from the family dog.
Bad doggie!
This page turner starts off nice and slow on a summer day when wild blueberries beckon on a shimmering New Hampshire lake. The boy narrator's out canoeing with Mom and a springer spaniel named Miles. But wait, where's Miles going? Why, he's obeying the dictates of nature, off chasing a family of endangered loons ... Gah!
Will their canoe catch up with him before too late? Can Mama loon defend her offspring?
Freeman's pastels remind me of an Orvis catalog, very northern outdoorsy with its heavy foliage and deep, earthy hues. I half expected the pages to smell faintly of wet leaves and pine needles.
Rating: *\*\*\
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