Lil Anderson

This is one of those books that you have to read to believe. Seriously. If you love animals, you absolutely must track down a copy of this book, written by a Canadian wildlife rehabilitator who lives in the Canadian north.

She wrote this book after 'adopting' (ie. taking in to her home for rehab) two orphaned baby beavers that no one else could care for. Wildlife services didn't have the facilities to care for them, and they would have died on their own. The book chronicles how Anderson took care of them, related to them, and the behavior she watched them exhibit. Later on, she took in other wildlife (a deer, an eagle, a woodchuck) and the stories she tells are so unbelievable you probably won't believe me when I say that things like this happened:

-- from an early age, the beavers would ask to be picked up, by stretching their arms up at Anderson, gesturing "up! up!" like a human toddler
-- one of the beavers was kidnapped by the woodchuck and held captive... no, I am not kidding, and I really really want to say more but I don't want to spoil this fascinating story
-- the beavers would clean their food dishes until they sparkled, and then stack them against the side of their enclosure... yes, stack them, like cleanliness-obsessed little Martha Stewarts

...and there's so much more here, but I want you to read the book and learn for yourself how incredible and fascinating beavers are. They're so intelligent that I found myself aching for them, wanting to help these orphaned creatures somehow in my own way... it's probably good I don't live up north, or I'd turn my home into a rehab center too. :)

I can't overuse adjectives enough in saying what a gem of a book this is. If you love animals or are interested in animal behavior, this is a possibly one of the best animal books you'll read all year.… (meer)