Those of the Forest

by Wallace Byron Grange

Book Overview

Grange's classic story of forest wildlife dramatized through the lives of a succession of woodland creatures. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1559710837
• ISBN13: 9781559710831
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Willow Creek Press
• Length: 314 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Anyone interested in the "Big Questions" should read

Grange's book poses many questions without trying to impose the answers. It brings us back to the reality of our existence on this planet, and the miraculous fact that we DO exist here. He also points out the complex inter-relatedness of all the plants, animals and minerals that co-exist on Earth. Really a book to recommend to any thoughtful person.

Education through great writing.

Outstanding educational experience within the confines of this book, created to be enjoyed whether you are a teen or an adult. You will get something valuable and rewarding from the pages you read. The book is written through the eyes of those who know nature best...an animals point of view...spoken through the lips of a leading conservationist of his time. Someone who gave back as much nature invested in him. He soaked in years of knowledge, spilled it upon these pages and not only delivered this outstanding and educational works, but created areas of preservation through his lifetime and in the days since he passed. A true nature lover at his best. Scattered throughout the story are detailed accounts of how animals strive day by day, only concerned with the now and not the future for the cycle of life for them could end in a moment. It guides us season by season, generation by generation of animals, giving details of survival and death as they occur in nature in such a wonderful way of showing us all the details leaving no remorse in those sorrowful moments because it is life's cycle explained in a way only spoken by someone who has lived with and observed firsthad the beauty and pattern. A great read for any age group!

Ecology for all ages

As with many of the books that I read, I picked up Those of the Forest on my travels, this time through the great north woods. The book is now over 50 years old, but it has a freshness that is so encouraging, especially in light of the politicization of issues surrounding the environment. Grange tells the story of the forest from within. The voices are those of the inhabitants of the forest. He tends toward anthropomorphism, but is also very careful to remind us that we can only guess at what the animals and plant life is experiencing. Through Grange's eyes, a world that surrounds us is exposed, because it is a world that we don't stop and investigate often enough. We are exposed to the intricacies of nature and the interdependence of all of us on each other. This is a very spiritual message which opens eyes to the miracles of creation. The prose is very clear and is appropriate for anyone from high school up. This would be an excellent introduction to ecology for younger readers and help them to have a greater appreciation for the world that surrounds us.

For Who Shall Explain the Intricacies of Nature

Huddled within a "sheltered cavern beneath the evergreens" is Snowshoe, a timid rabbit whose small world is analyzed by the thoughtful and intrinsic authority of Wallace Byron Grange. Sometime before 1930, by the age of twenty-two, our author became the first Superintendent of Game for the Conservation Commission of the State of Wisconsin. To quote the back-flap of my edition: "[Grange] became engaged in the business of live-trapping and shipping to New York State thousands of snowshoe rabbits for restocking purpose. It was in this way he...gained the experience upon which this book is based" (Abercrombie & Fitch, 1967). Perhaps his snowshoe experience was derived from live-trapping, but an obvious fair amount of time must have been spent in the wilderness, submerged in nature, noting every minute aspect of dozens of animal and flora species, as well as studying the soil, erosion, wind and water, and weather, and the interrelated balance of life and death: the fundamental basics of ecology and biology. In short, Grange was a genius with nature. It is perhaps a shame he gave us only one book, but he departed the world leaving the state of Wisconsin a 9470-acre wildlife haven, among other accomplishments. The book opens on a dreary night, one filled with wind and snow and darkness. Enough to drive any animal into the recesses of underbrush for shelter, huddled for warmth. Should we feel sorry for these creatures of the winter? As Grange exposes the world to us, he is possibly provoking that instinctual human reaction: sympathetic sorrow. One quickly learns to disregard these feelings and allow Grange to re-introduce us to a world that can, and does, take care of itself. There are no humans in this book. The dreaded "hunt" does not come from modern weaponry. It comes from the root of life: survival. There is no intellectual within this story. Snowshoe et al. do not band together and fight the ever-evil wolves and hawks. The rabbit is a rabbit. And Grange goes about describing what the rabbit knows as a simple thought process, one so realistic, the reader will begin to understand the rabbit for who he is, and who he isn't. At one point, Grange brings up a curiosity regarding the brain: Lepus [a rabbit], as a mammal, has the power of motion; memory; sight; hearing-and he has a brain. But where is the brain of the jackpine or of the pitcher plant? How shall it be that plants, apparently not possessed of any central nervous system, nevertheless grow, have species identity, sex, inheritance, habit, preference; that they compete with one another; struggle, have natural enemies...and the will to live? (161) The book begins in winter, and takes us through the four seasons. Grange shows us the interrelatedness of weather patterns, migration patterns of species (those that pass through the rabbits' little world), and how each creature manages to survive one moment to the next. Grange's style (as seen in the above paragraph) comprise