The Last Loon

By Rebecca Upjohn
Animal: Loon
Rating: 4 stars

Evan can't believe that he is being forced to go stay in the middle of nowhere in Canada while both his parents are out of town.  He is used to living in the city, not living with his crazy Aunt Mags in a straw bale house on the edge of a lake.  Evan is even more confused when his aunt seems totally interested in a lone loon on the lake.  When she explains the loon should have migrated by now and would not survive the winter, Evan understands a little bit more.  But as he makes a nearby friend and learns more about living in the woods and about loons in general, he begins to feel sympathy for the trapped creature.  And then, when things begin to look bleaker for the loon's survival, Evan decides he needs to make a last ditch effort to rescue it--whether or not he knows what he's doing.  This is a quick-moving, exciting story of learning to care about the wild animals around us and about trying to do the right thing.  Good stuff!