The Book of Clever Beasts: Studies in Unnatural History

"The Book of Clever Beasts: Studies in Unnatural History" by Myrtle Reed is a collection of charming stories where animals act and feel like humans, probably from the early 1900s. The stories are told by a nature lover who watches animals in the forest and how they connect with people, pointing out their funny habits and feelings. The book starts with a man named Mr. Johnson-Sitdown, a telegraph worker, who goes to a cabin in the woods to get better and meets a field mouse named Little Upsidaisi, which begins a series of fun and sad stories about animals. At the beginning, the main character listens to his doctor and leaves the busy city to find quiet in his grandparent's cabin, bringing his cat, Tom-Tom, with him. Once he's there, he's excited to study the nature around him and write about the animals he sees. His meeting with Little Upsidaisi brings up ideas of friendship, weakness, and the complicated ways humans and animals live together, ending with a sad moment that shows the tough side of life in the wild. The playful but also a little sad feeling of the book creates a thoughtful study of nature and the connections that grow within it.