The Gift of the Deer (edition 1968)

In the late 1950s, before such counter-cultural things were popular, author Helen Hoover and her artist husband, Ade, moved to upstate Minnesota near the Canadian border. Living in a tiny log cabin with minimal conveniences, the Hoovers became intimately aware of the wildlife in the forests that surrounded them, and began consciously trying to live more in harmony with it. When an injured and starving whitetail buck stumbled into their yard one winter afternoon, their relationship with the forest deepened even more. No one who reads the book will forget Peter Whitetail and the beauties of a harsh but lovely land. ( )