39. Saving Samantha: A True Story

Everybody loves baby animals, right? And if you saw one injured you would do everything in your power to save it...right? That's what Robbyn Smith van Frankenhuyzen and Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen do. (Please don't make me type their last names again.) They are a husband and wife team who live on a 40-acre farm and sketch and journal all of the wonderful, wild things they see. They have rescued and released many injured and orphaned animals over the years. I'd say that's pretty awesome...kind of sounds like a life I could get used to.


This book is about one of their experiences with wildlife rehabilitation, written by Robbyn and illustrated by Gijsbert. It looks as if he painted oil on canvas and inserted it into the book. You get those wonderful grains that come with the canvas. These paintings show the magnificent landscape of nature that surrounds them, with expansive views of animals in their habitat. Gijsbert also brings us close to see the wounded Samantha and follow her exploits as she frolics and comes back to health. We are almost always outside, so his palette usually consists of blues, greens, browns, oranges, and yellows ('nature tones', if you will). Again I was reminded of masterpieces you see in an art museum, where you want to stand up close and see all of the details. He portrays Samantha's story with such realism that we watch her grow, too. His art is also filled with emotion-- we are excited when we see her grow, but are a little sad when it is time for her to leave and go off on her own.


Robbyn's text matches that emotion. It is mostly written through a chronology of journal entries, but then there are times when narrative description mixes in. That can be a bit confusing at times when it is on the same page, because you are jumping from past to present. The detailed descriptions of Samantha's life are informative and show the bond that grew between humans and fox; at times, though, they can be a bit wordy (at 48 pages, it is much longer than the typical 32). That is not to say that the words aren't interesting, because they are. They teach us what it is like to love an animal and let it go. Plus, the story is just fascinating-- how many of us regular people have ever rescued a wild animal and had it be part of the family? Kids will want to find out what that nature and animal-filled life is like.


This would be a great book for studying ecology or life cycles (you see some of it play out in the book). You could also use it to teach about instincts and learned behaviors...Robbyn had to make sure that Samantha reentered the wild gradually, so that she re-learned and practiced the instincts that she had forgotten. Great text for the older kids, and the illustrations give enough detail that you could 'tell' it to a group of little ones.