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by A. K. Frailey (Author), Laura Frailey (Illustrator), Rebekah Frailey (Illustrator)
An enchanting family story told from an older woman's perspective about her childhood during the years she spent on a farm with her Great Aunt Wilda on the outskirts of a midwestern town. While exploring the wonders of the woodlands, she discovered an animal community and formed friendships that taught her the meaning of wisdom and the value of home.
Her mother and father had been enduring hard times; overworked and unhappy, they sent her, as a seven-year-old, to the rural homestead. Great Aunt Wilda, a grand collector of things and stories, not only shares her abundant memories with the child, but on the practical side, she teaches her how to bake and crochet. Hints about the wonders of the wild woodlands draw the child outdoors, where she discovers an animal community with its own challenges and conquests.
A calico cat named Margaret relates her own troubles as a kitten lost in the woods, but befriended by a squirrel and a possum family, she forges her own home from a ramshackle building on the back of Baley Acres.
As the child learns gardening and cooking skills by day, each evening she returns to Margaret to learn about woodland adventures and the community spirit that supports the animals through hard times. Only the rumors about coyotes disturb their peace, while worries about her parents haunt the child.
After exchanging letters with her parents and later discovering that she had grown so much she needed new clothes, the child is overjoyed to discover that her parents are coming for a visit. Only the fear of leaving her aunt and her new woodland friend dampens her spirits.
Before her parents arrive, the possum informs her that Margaret is missing. The child, along with her woodland friends, follows the trail and discovers Margaret trying to free a coyote pup caught in a trap. Though Margaret knows how to spring the trap, her feline strength isn't enough. With the child and the possum's help, they save the pup to the gratitude of the coyote parents, forging a one-of-a-kind alliance.
When her parents arrive, the child's happiness is clouded by renewed fears of leaving her new friends. Only after they ask her if she has been truly happy with her Great Aunt Wilda, and she answers truthfully, do they explain that they are moving in to assist their elderly aunt and give the child her heart's desire, a home and family, with everyone she loves.
The narrator concludes with her finest insight, "I knew then, as I've always known through these past fifty years-love is a wise home."
