Autumn Moon

In 1969, the prestigious nature writer Jean Craighead George authored a series of thirteen books, each one focusing on a different season and an animal who survived during that time, all over the country. The books were called THE THIRTEEN MOONS and featured THE MOON OF THE ALLIGATOR, BEAR, CHICKAREE, DEER, FOX PUPS, MOLE, MONARCH BUTTERFLY, MOUNTAIN LION, OWL, SALAMANDER, WILD PIG, WINTER BIRD, and GRAY WOLVES (see my review of these books under THE MOON OF THE OWLS). These books featured simple black-and-white illustrations and went out of print. Two decades later in 1992 they made a comeback with lavish color illustrations, though they retained their poetic wording and intriguing subjects. But then the Thirteen Moons again went out of print. Now, to avid nature lovers' and readers' delight, they are back! The thirteen hardcover books have been compressed into four paperback ones, each one containing three or four stories about different animals, along with a few of the more recent color illustrations. The titles have changed; instead of the Thirteen Moons the series is now, perhaps slightly less majestically, Seasons of the Moon. AUTUMN MOON is the first to be released and features the MOON OF THE. . .DEER, ALLIGATORS, and GRAY WOLVES in their entirety. These outstanding stories pitting wild animals against the elements of nature are unforgettable. The descriptions are lively and very authentic. You can really see the young spike buck as he flees from the hurricane of September, feel the October humidity of the Everglades with the Florida alligator, and feel the chill in the air as the gray wolves trek through Alaska searching for food in snowy November. As for the illustrations, only a small portion of the ones from the reprinted 1992 versions are reproduced, and these hardly do the beautiful paintings any justice. Still, they do add to the stories, and it's nice that they were included. After reading AUTUMN MOON, be sure to read WINTER MOON, and SPRING and SUMMER MOON will be released in February of 2002. Ms. George has written nearly 80 other books for young readers. But the fineness of her nature writing is demonstrated in this amazing series.