HOME SCHOOL BOOK REVIEW
Book: “Scrub”: The Story of a Northern White-Tailed Deer
Author: Forest Halvorsen Sr.
Publisher: AB Publishing, 1996
ISBN-13: 9781881545231 Paperback
ISBN-10: 1881545237 Paperback
Language level: 1
(1=nothing objectionable; 2=common euphemisms and/or childish slang terms; 3=some cursing and/or profanity; 4=a lot of cursing and/or profanity; 5=obscenity and/or vulgarity)
Recommended reading level: Ages 8-12
Rating: ***** 5 stars
(5 stars=EXCELLENT; 4 stars=GOOD; 3 stars=FAIR; 2 stars=POOR; 1 star=VERY POOR; no stars=NOT RECOMMENDED)
Category: General youth fiction
Reviewed by Wayne S. Walker
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Halvorsen, Forest Sr. “Scrub”: The Story of a Northern White-Tailed Deer (published in 1996 by AB Publishing). A beautiful doe gives birth to two fawns, out of season in the winter. The larger, a female, is rather small, but her even littler brother is truly a “scrub” if there ever was one. But Mother Deer takes care of them, and they survive until spring. However, with howling hound dogs, hungry coyotes, school busses on the roads, farm tractors in the fields, and ever-present hunters, will Scrub manage to make it into summer?
Scrub is a true-to-life nature story about white tailed deer in northern Michigan. The story, which was originally written in the 1960’s, is based on the personal observations of author Forest Halvorsen Sr., the “barbershop tales” of farmers and sportsmen whom Mr. Halvorsen met, and facts gleaned from the Michigan Conservation magazine. The book is somewhat similar to Thornton W. Burgess’s nature books about animals, such as The Adventures of Mr. Mocker and The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver, or those by Sam Campbell like How’s Inky?