Helen Hoover (1910–1984)

Nature writer Helen Hoover wrote Great Wolf and the Good Woodsman, and Betsy Bowen illustrated it with hand-colored woodcuts. It is a forest Christmas story with a message of peace, tolerance, and kindness. The animals in the forest have to Christmas dinner because the good woodsman fell inside his cabin, so the wolf ends up helping. This is a realistic story and there isn't too much about Christmas other than the meal. The book could be used at other times of the calendar year. Children could be asked inferring questions as the story is read.… (more)

If you love hearing about the following types of things, as I do, then you will probably love this book as much as I did. It's a book I will treasure forever. And the illustrations by her husband are very sweet.

The things that make the struggle of daily survival worthwhile:

* Waking up to being patted on the face by an injured Ermine (white weasel) you've been feeding and who curls up to sleep in the soft dirt of your potted begonia!
* Caring for Mrs. Mouse, whose hind quarters are paralyzed. She's a nursing mother. Where are her babies????
* Cute Little Bear with his fat tummy and funny little tail.
Meeting a full grown bear on a bridge.
* The squirrel and the typewriter!!!

Helen and her husband, Ade, gave up their Chicago life in 1954 to live in a rustic cabin in the North Woods of Minnesota on the shores of Gunflint Lake.

Granted, these were the days before internet and Netflix so they had a much easier transition than any of us would today. Ha ha.

Along with being entertained by adorable animals, there are, of course, many hardships and challenges. The struggle just to stay warm and dry would probably send me running back to the City. They have NO electricity and I forget if they had running water or not. I don't think they did. Would YOU want to get up every two hours to make sure the wood fire stove was keeping the smelly baby chicks warm enough in your kitchen?

Thank God her husband, Ade knows how to DO stuff and BUILD stuff and knows all about how stuff WORKS.

I can't wait to read the other books she wrote, especially the follow up, [b:The Years of the Forest|3221118|The Years of the Forest|Helen Hoover|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375768400l/3221118._SX50_.jpg|3255144], which covers 17 more years of their lives in the woods with the magical creatures.

I'll leave you with a quote:

It had been a good day--and our tomorrows were waiting. What kind of days they would be depended on us.

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This is a nice little book about whitetail deer in northern Minnesota. The author and her husband lived in a remote cabin in the woods. They habitually put out food for the birds and squirrels in winter and one particularly hard year, a starving deer showed up. They helped the buck survive- cutting cedar branches for it to eat (recognizing that corn would be too rich and a shock on its system). They named the deer Peter and he became very accustomed to hanging around their cabin, even stamping on the porch to demand food if it wasn't set out yet. Before long other deer joined Peter in their yard, and then the Hoovers watched fawns appear with the doe they named Mama and grow up, several years in a row. The narrative describes the woods and other widlife- birds, squirrels, a bobcat and lynx that seemed to be companions, a moose that trampled their garden, a groundhog that ate cookies from their hands. A young bear that they were troubled to see tourists feeding (yet they had no qualms about feeding the deer and other wildlife themselves). Mostly though it's about the deer, and the social interactions they observed which was interesting. Sadly and not surprisingly, it turns out that the deer, now being partially tame, were more vulnerable to hunters who showed up even though it was private land with posted signs. In the end I think they regretting having fed the deer so regularly, and were relieved to see the animals grow more wary of people following the hunting season. The author has published several books with titles including A Place in the Woods and The Years of the Forest, which I'll probably pick up if I come across them someday.

from the Dogear Diary… (more)