Little Like Me! The Secret Fawn by Kallie George

THIS MORNING, MAMA SAW A DEER. DAD AND SARA SAW IT, TOO.

The younger girl in the family seems to miss everything because of her age. She misses picking the very first apple because she's too short to reach it, so her big sister gets to do that. She misses the meteor shower because she has to go to bed early. And now she's missed seeing the deer because she was trying to dress all by herself. Stealthily, she puts a sugar cube in her pocket and slips out of the house to look for the deer by herself.

There are a lot of false alarms. The movement behind the apple tree is not a deer. The glimpse of something brown turns out to be the neighbor's dog greeting her. She shushes the dog, hearing a splash at the pond. Is that the deer drinking or a fish jumping? Is that crack in the bushes a deer's step? No, it's a squirrel frisking by, carrying a nut for his breakfast, reminding the girl that she is hungry for hers. She puts the sugar cube on a rock in case the deer is hungry, too.

I LISTEN AND LOOK. I SEE SOMETHING.

NOT A DEER. A FAWN. "HELLO," WE SAY WITH OUR EYES.

The girl watches as the fawn rises and goes to look for its mother, and then she heads home to look for her own, who is waiting with a plate of pancakes just for her.

But the little girl does not hurry to tell her family of her secret sighting.

They saw a deer, but SHE saw its fawn, in Kallie George's just published, The Secret Fawn (Tundra Books, 2021), a sweet story, a sort of coming-of-age for a youngster who treasures her unique bond with the very little fawn. Author Kallie George's skillful narration shares the mystery of the little girl's encounter with another creature all on her own, and the charming illustrations of Elly McKay also capture the emotionally moving magic of a meeting with the little fawn.

Says Hornbook, “Cut paper adds definition; salt stippling creates the impression of apple blossoms; the whole becomes a world set apart from the ordinary. The protagonist, too, is out of the ordinary: returning home, she keeps her encounter with the fawn secret, her rich inner life bringing its own rewards.”