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George Cory Franklin

Autore di Wild Horses of the Rio Grande

19+ opere 61 membri 2 recensioni

Sull'Autore

Comprende il nome: George Cori Franklin

Serie

Opere di George Cory Franklin

Back of Beyond (2011) 10 copie
Son of Monte (1966) 4 copie
Tuffy (1954) 4 copie
Trails West (1960) 3 copie
Sheba, a Grizzly Bear (1953) 3 copie
Monte 2 copie
Shorty's Mule 1 copia
Pioneer Horse (1960) 1 copia
Pancho 1 copia
Shorty's mule 1 copia

Opere correlate

Friends to Man: The Wonderful World of Animals — Collaboratore — 1 copia

Etichette

Informazioni generali

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Utenti

Recensioni

Born in a den underneath the cabin of Happy Jack Ryan and Bill Stevens, Zorra the fox spends her early days in the company of the two miners, and grows up as a close companion to their dog, Bum. Despite her association with men and dog, however, there is something in Zorra that yearns to be "a wild, free fox," and leads her out into the wider world of the surrounding Five Rivers Country. Here she encounters danger, particularly from the trapper Cartier - an enemy for whom her friendly relations with humans had not prepared her. Fortunately, her observation of Carcajou the wolverine teaches her an important lesson about how to avoid traps, while the return of her parents - Tricky and Vixen, who were introduced in Tricky: The Adventures of a Red Fox - leads to the continuation of her training in the real way of being a fox. The ties of youthful affection and loyalty always lead Zorra back to Bum, and to the miners, but the call of the wild lures her out again. In the end, when Zorra's life is threatened by Cartier's hunting dog Diablo, dependable old Bum proves himself a faithful friend to the young fox...

Originally published in 1957, this engaging animal story from George Cory Franklin is a sequel to his earlier Tricky: The Adventures of a Red Fox, which was published in 1949. Like its predecessor, Zorra: A Fox of the Mountains is set in the Five Rivers Country of Colorado, around the Gunnison River, where the author grew up. Interestingly, fellow children's author Rutherford George Montgomery, who wrote numerous animal stories, including one devoted to the adventures of a wolverine named Carcajou and his conflict with an Indian trapper, was also a resident of Gunnison County in the 1930s. There seems to be little biographical information available about Franklin, but his preface to Tricky makes it clear that he grew up and lived in the Five Rivers Country, making me wonder whether he was acquainted with Montgomery, and whether the brief appearance of Carcajou the wolverine in this story was a tribute to Montgomery's book, which was first published in 1936. Whatever the case may be, it's certainly interesting that these two authors lived in the same area for a time, wrote about the same kinds of animals, and were sometimes even illustrated by the same artist - L.D. Cram. As for Zorra, it was entertaining, although I continue to be troubled by the description of Cartier as a 'half-breed' trapper. The clear villain of the piece, his character is more fleshed out here than in Tricky, and the picture painted isn't flattering: Cartier's cabin is described as smelly and filthy (as opposed to the clean cabin of the two miners, Jack and Bill), and the man himself as someone who, "like many of his class," is brutal and indiscriminate in his killing. As with Tricky, provided that readers are aware of this potentially problematic aspect of the story, I would recommend Zorra to those readers interested in the depiction of foxes in children's literature, or in children's stories set in the Colorado Rockies, and to anyone who read and enjoyed Tricky.
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AbigailAdams26 | Aug 30, 2015 |
A little red fox named Tricky makes a connection with two Colorado miners, Happy Jack Ryan and Bill Stevens, at the beginning of this engaging animal story, and although his many adventures lead him all over the Five Rivers Country, he always seems to find his way back to them. Determined to remain free - Tricky finds his way out of the cage into which the miners initially put him, while also managing to escape the fence-enclosed yard of the nearby Pease ranch - our vulpine hero is nevertheless attracted to these friendly humans, especially to Happy Jack, who plays such entrancing mouth-organ music. Despite this, the young fox must learn that his instinctive distrust of humanity is not ill-founded, and that many men, such as the 'half-breed' trapper Cartier, are dangerous to wild creatures. Tricky soon learns to recognize and avoid the many snares laid out by this enemy, and eventually teaches this skill to his new mate, the lovely Vixen. But when Vixen takes a wrong step, and is caught in a terrible situation, Tricky must enlist his friendly human allies to aid her...

Published in 1949, Tricky: The Adventures of a Red Fox was George Cory Franklin's third book, and, like so many of his other works, is set in the Five Rivers Country area of Colorado, along the Gunnison River (a tributary of the Colorado) where the author grew up. It is an engaging tale, simply told, and manages to involve the reader in its vulpine hero's many adventures. I was struck by the attraction that Tricky felt for Happy Jack, as the result of his music - "the music of Ryan's mouth organ brought to mind everything that Tricky loved" - something that Eunice Young Smith also explores in her subsequent fox tale, The Knowing One (1967). I'm reminded of those videos, to which friends so frequently point me, involving cows listening to the music played by their human owners, and wonder if any research has been done on the use of music as a means of inter-species communication. I was also struck by the clever way in which Tricky and Vixen rid themselves of their flea infestation - they balance a small piece of wool on their noses, and slowly back into water, keeping the wool dry. Gradually, as they submerge themselves up to their noses (standing on their back legs only), the fleas all migrate onto the wool, at which point the foxes abandon it in the water, emerging flea-free. Apparently foxes are the only animal species clever enough to have invented this strategy of dealing with the problem! The author apparently befriended many foxes as a youth, and his familiarity with their ways is very evident here, while the accompanying illustrations by L.D. Cram are as realistic and engaging as the text. The one discordant note in the entire book is the description of Cartier as a 'half-breed.' Ironically, given the far more negative impact of settlers on the natural world of the American West, as compared to its indigenous peoples, it is the Euro-American miners and ranchers who are friendly to the wild creatures in this story, whereas the one native (or partially native) characters is hostile. With the previso that readers should be aware of the author's use of this term, I would recommend Tricky to anyone interested in the depiction of foxes in children's fiction, or in stories set in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains.
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Segnalato
AbigailAdams26 | Aug 30, 2015 |

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19
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1
Utenti
61
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Voto
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Recensioni
2
ISBN
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