Helen Hoover’s beautifully intense prose makes this event of her life read like a fantasy piece. I felt I was sharing the precious moments that she and her husband Ade spent with the wild whitetail deer family who visited them at their log cabin deep in the Minnesota woods. I hadn’t read this book in a few years and when I saw it again on my shelf I remembered it was a great book to read in the summer.
The Gift of the Deer introduces us to Peter, Mama, Pretty, Friendly, and all the others who live in Hoover’s "neighborhood" deep in the North Woods. This is more than just a story about wild animals. It is a tribute to Peter, the magnificent whitetail buck who taught them so much about the dignity and majesty of wild things, and enriched their lives with his noble and gentle ways.
This book is a treasure of a journey into some of the most peaceful, delightful, and rewarding places that a nature lover can go without leaving their home. The kind of story that must be pulled off the shelf and reread again and again. When a injured deer finds its way to the Hoover’s cottage, they didn’t realize that in helping him, they’d find a friend. Peter, as the deer is named, comes back season after season, bringing other deer with him
The Hoovers’ observations and personal narrative is a touching tribute to this gentle hearted deer. Hoover does a fabulous job of making her reader appreciate the life of the deer and how it can indeed intertwine with the lives of humans – if all respect the others’ wants and needs. Helen Hoover was successful once again making me appreciate the wilderness and wanting to find my own herd of deer to admire and fawn over, so to speak. I’ll never look at a deer the same again – and I’m betting you won’t either after you read “The Gift of the Deer.”