Yellow Eyes

This book opened my eyes to the life of a wild animal from his perspective. It has informed my life ever sense. I now run a nonprofit for respectful coexistence of humans and wildlife. Tonight, I give an opening talk to 200 ppl to introduce a mountain lion photographer. I am honored and humbled.

I can't have read this book fewer than a hundred times during my childhood, and I still dust it off every year at least. The storyline is great, but the authors descriptive language is what makes this book a classic. You see through yellow eyes into the wilderness he lives in.

I too agree with Stan from Lockport and the others who read Yellow Eyes as a kid and never forgot it. I experienced all of the elation, anger, awe, pain, fear, admiration, frustration and excitement when I read it. I remember the native American who used the ink to render Yellow Eye's poisoned meat inpalatable. He was the only friend Yellow Eyes had among the humans, and Yellow Eyes was able to sense this fact and could also sense this man's pure-heartedness and the goodness in his soul. I remember the leap from the tree, and the fight with the airdales (This is a story that will enchant and delight children of all ages.

I read this book when I was 10 (1961) and remember as if yesterday, the sensation generated in my gut, when the hunting dogs cornered Yellow Eyes, forcing him to make that spine severing leap which crippled the noble beast for the remainder of his life. I believe this single read provided me with the empathy I behold today, for wildlife and their never ending plight with encroching (so-called) civilization. I would highly recommend for any young reader. Just yesterday I was attempting to explain to a good friend and encountered a gaggle of goose bumps and that occasional welling eye. Montgomery instills compassion, respect, appreciation and love of life for all who read this beautifully written story. EN

Yellow Eyes is the first book I can remember sellecting on my own, reading and getting all my friends to read. That was 1960, I was in the 4th grade. I haven't seen a copy of the book in almost that many years, but I can still remember the abandonment with which I read it. It was the first sweet dose in a lifelong addiction to reading for me and I can hardly wait to track down another copy. -M-