Shadow the Deer by Theresa Radcliffe illustrated by John Butler

Text copyright © Theresa Radcliffe, 1993, Illustrations copyright © John Butler, 1993

"It was early summer in the forest. The leaves on the old oak tree had opened at last. Beyond the oak tree was a thicket of brambles and some young hazel trees and here, hidden in a hollow under the bramble bushes, lay Shadow the deer."

Shadow  is hungry and thirsty. She, however, must wait for evening before she can safely leave the shelter - she has a three day old fawn sleeping beside her.  When evening arrives, Shadow presses her fawn's head down with her nose. The fawn instinctively knows that he must lie very still while his mother is gone.

Shadow heads for the lake, wary of danger. She does not want to leave her fawn but because of her own thirst, she must. Meanwhile, a fox, Redflank, and her two cubs are on the far side of the forest. Redflank observes her cubs playing and knows they are hungry. She goes off  in search of voles in the bramble thicket by the old oak tree. Redflank is startled and delighted to see the fawn sleeping. She creeps closer, thinking about her hungry cubs.

At that moment, Shadow is hurrying back from the lake, anxious to return to her fawn. A pheasant signals a call of alarm. Shadow knows her fawn is in danger and she gallops toward him, arriving just as Redflank is about to pounce. She springs across toward her fawn, "she would let nothing harm him!" Shadow trounces Redflank by pummeling her repeatedly with her hooves. Redflank retreats . . . defeated.

Shadow hurries to her fawn. "He stood up on his wobbly legs and nuzzled against her. Shadow licked his head. The danger was over."

During my first week blogging, I featured Bashi, Elephant Baby  from this six book series about the harrowing first days of life of various wild animals. I recently reread the entire series to the kids, upon their insistence in one sitting. I was once again reminded of how great the books are. I thought I would  feature Shadow the Deer in order to gush more about Theresa Radcliffe's story and showcase more of John Butler's impressively realistic illustrations. The stories are suspenseful but always end happily with the mommas successfully protecting their babies against various predators. As I mentioned in my earlier post, these books are out of print, but you can find them used online. Truly a superb series with gorgeous artwork!