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Nicknamed the "philosopher of the Forest, Sam Campbell was a writer, photographer, radio personality, promoter, lecturer, and especially a devoted student of living nature. His summer home was a game preserve in the forests of northern Wisconsin, near the town of Three Lakes. There he studied the ways of wild animals, their habits, their work, their play, and the examples they set for human beings in right living. While the world was fast becoming embroiled in the turmoil that created World War II, Sam Campbell decided to write a lighthearted yet philosophic storybook about a much loved Porcupine friend named Inky. This entertaining story, based on his true-life work with animals and people, created a public demand for more of the same. Throughout the course of his life, he turned out one of these story books about every year or two, and the result of this work has left a series of twelve truly inspiring and entertaining books about the humorous antics, friendship, and wisdom of forest life. These fun, true-life adventures, sprinkled with profound wisdom, will appeal to children, college students, and mature adults alike.… (more)
User reviews
The events chronicled take place over two years at the animal sanctuary run by Sam and Giny Campbell during World War II, most likely 1942-43. While the titular squirrels and their actions—especially early in the book—form a narrative thread throughout the book, the main person in Campbell’s narrative is his friend Duke. Visiting the sanctuary just before his deployment of the South Pacific and during a convalesce stay, Duke cares for the young squirrels when they first arrive at the sanctuary and is latter pivotal in finding most of them after they had left the island during the intervening winter. Yet his correspondence with the Campbells between his visits allows Sam not only relay the squirrels misadventures with one another but with other animals but Duke’s reaction to them, giving the reader a feeling of being a part of the experience ourselves.
Though being as long as the previous installment, this book’s focus on Duke and his experiences doesn’t take anything away from series focus on nature instead it provides greater depth to it. Campbell’s contrasting descriptions of Duke before and after his first deployment shows the affect that war has on an individual and how he relates to things especially those he loves. However Campbell also shows how nature can help those affect by war by providing a calming place to compose oneself, even if that individual knows he’s soon go back to “finish the job”. Religious faith, Christianity in particular, is talked about more in this book than the previous two books but not prominently and not until very late in the book close to end of Duke’s visit.
Although Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo—and Still-Mo is a little different from the previous two Living Forest books, Sam Campbell’s engaging writing of animals and nature is given a different focus during a very different era in U.S. history, though it’s still relevant today.