Jade, Lost in Yellowstone

by Michelle Caffrey, illustrated by Steph Lehmann

Picture Book, 47 pages

Copyright, 2020 by Farcountry Press, Helena, Montana

Reviewed by Kerri Lukasavitz, www.kerrilukasavitz.com

Jade, Lost in Yellowstone is the companion picture book to Bringing Jade Home, The True Story of a Dog Lost in Yellowstone, which offers young readers a condensed version of this remarkable tale. The pages are beautifully illustrated with the lost Aussie Shepherd pup, Jade, and her encounters with the different wildlife in Yellowstone Park as she finds ways to survive after she bolts in fear from the car crash site where she and her other Aussie Shepherd buddy, Laila, are being attended to by rescue workers and while her owners, Laura and David, are being treated in a hospital for their injuries.

Frightened, alone, and only 15 months old, Jade relies on instinct for days that stretch into weeks and then stretch into months to avoid dangerous encounters with bears and coyotes and elk as she does her best to survive until she can hopefully be found by her owners and search teams. Colorful, lively, and wonderfully written, Jade, Lost in Yellowstone, will entertain children (and their parents) again and again. Recommended for readers ages 4 to 6.

Reviewer Kerri Lukasavitz has a BFA from MIAD and an MA in English from Mount Mary College. She is the 2019 Hal Prize winner for Nonfiction; a 2020 recipient for a Write On, Door County residency; her debut middle-grade novel, Mystery Horse at Oak Lane Stable, was a 2018 Royal Dragonfly Book Award winner; and was published in Peninsula Pulse and Arches.