This fascinating picture book tells the unique, quirky, and true story of how one man in Idaho saved 76 beavers from destroying a town by parachuting them into uninhabited wetlands.
In 1948, the town of McCall, Idaho was growing rapidly. World War II was over, and the little town tucked away in the mountains began to boom. There was only one problem. As the town expanded, they found beavers everywhere. A beaver here, a beaver there, and it didn’t take long to realize that humans and beavers weren’t great cohabitators. But one clever and resourceful Fish and Game Warden named Elmo Heter had an idea.
Heter knew that the beavers were integral to the wetlands, so keeping the well-being of the beavers in mind he set out to find a way to relocate them. After a few failed attempts, he finally landed on a wild idea… parachutes. Using a surplus of parachutes left over from WWII and creating a special box with air holes designed to pop open when it hit the ground, Heter devised a way to parachute the beavers into Idaho’s backcountry, an area that beavers hadn’t inhabited in decades.
Kirsten Tracy’s fascinating and playful nonfiction text pairs beautifully with Luisa Uribe’s detailed illustrations to bring this compelling true story to life.
★ "This book explores ingenuity, solving problems, group efforts, and perfecting an idea. The art.... is soft and engaging. Reading this book prior to engaging in experiments is like providing a blueprint for the scientific method." —School Library Journal, starred review
"A celebration of an early environmental success." —Kirkus Reviews
"The presentation of the story [is] a heroic one....will prompt discussion around environmental conservation and human/animal coexistence." —The Bulletin
Kristen Tracy has written twelve novels for young adults and young readers, including Lost It, Camille McPhee Fell Under the Bus, Hung Up, and Project Unpopular. She won the Emily Dickinson First Book Award from the Poetry Foundation for her collection Half-Hazard. Visit her online at kristentracy.com, and follow her on Twitter @kristen_tracy.
View titles by Kristen Tracy
This fascinating picture book tells the unique, quirky, and true story of how one man in Idaho saved 76 beavers from destroying a town by parachuting them into uninhabited wetlands.
In 1948, the town of McCall, Idaho was growing rapidly. World War II was over, and the little town tucked away in the mountains began to boom. There was only one problem. As the town expanded, they found beavers everywhere. A beaver here, a beaver there, and it didn’t take long to realize that humans and beavers weren’t great cohabitators. But one clever and resourceful Fish and Game Warden named Elmo Heter had an idea.
Heter knew that the beavers were integral to the wetlands, so keeping the well-being of the beavers in mind he set out to find a way to relocate them. After a few failed attempts, he finally landed on a wild idea… parachutes. Using a surplus of parachutes left over from WWII and creating a special box with air holes designed to pop open when it hit the ground, Heter devised a way to parachute the beavers into Idaho’s backcountry, an area that beavers hadn’t inhabited in decades.
Kirsten Tracy’s fascinating and playful nonfiction text pairs beautifully with Luisa Uribe’s detailed illustrations to bring this compelling true story to life.
Reviews
★ "This book explores ingenuity, solving problems, group efforts, and perfecting an idea. The art.... is soft and engaging. Reading this book prior to engaging in experiments is like providing a blueprint for the scientific method." —School Library Journal, starred review
"A celebration of an early environmental success." —Kirkus Reviews
"The presentation of the story [is] a heroic one....will prompt discussion around environmental conservation and human/animal coexistence." —The Bulletin
Author
Kristen Tracy has written twelve novels for young adults and young readers, including Lost It, Camille McPhee Fell Under the Bus, Hung Up, and Project Unpopular. She won the Emily Dickinson First Book Award from the Poetry Foundation for her collection Half-Hazard. Visit her online at kristentracy.com, and follow her on Twitter @kristen_tracy.
View titles by Kristen Tracy
