Orphan: The Story of a Baby Woodchuck

One spring day, Faith McNulty—who shares her farm with deer, rabbits, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, possums, and many other animals—finds a dead woodchuck among some leaves. Not far away, a baby woodchuck hurries along the driveway. He is hungry. He is helpless. Faith adopts the orphan woodchuck. She makes him a bed of cat litter and hay in a cardboard box and feeds him cereal and milk from a medicine dropper. With the passing of time, the author falls in love with her young charge. His homely face and chunky body become beautiful to her. Faith McNulty's relationship with her orphan woodchuck gives us insights into the animal world—and the human world. We learn about the joy of bonding, as a result of the author feeding and holding her charge five or six times a day, and the sorrow of loss, when it becomes time for Chuck to go out into the world on his own. This sensitive story, beautifully illustrated by Darby Morrell, dramatizes the wonder and pathos of a very special relationship.