Julie Zickefoose: Nature Artist & Writer
Saving Jemima: Life and Love with a Hard-Luck Jay
When Jemima, an orphaned blue jay, is brought to wildlife rehabilitator Julie Zickefoose, she is a palm-sized bundle of gray-blue fluff. But she is starved and very sick. Julie’s constant care brings her around, and as Jemima is raised for eventual release, she takes over the house and the rest of the author’s summer.
Shortly after release, Jemima turns up with a deadly disease. But medicating a free-flying wild bird is a challenge. Jemima bonds with a wild jay, stretching her ties with the family. Throughout, Julie grapples with the fallout of Jemima’s illness, studies molt and migration, and does her best to keep the bird strong and wild. She falls hard for this engaging, feisty, and funny jay, a creative muse and source of strength through the author’s own heartbreaking changes.
Emotional and honest, Saving Jemima is a universal story of the communion between a wild creature and the human chosen to raise her.
Jemima will steal your heart. Three cheers for this spunky baby bird! And three more for Julie Zickefoose, who brings Jemima Jay alive for us lucky readers. I loved this book and you will, too.
—Sy Montgomery, author of How to Be a Good Creature
Beyond setting the record straight about the misunderstood role of imprinting, this is a work of love and passion for living and an appreciation of the natural world through the ambassador of a charismatic blue jay.
—Bernd Heinrich, author of Mind of the Raven
This is not just a bird watcher’s story; it will touch all readers. Warm, joyful, deep, passionate, and multilayered. I recommend this book to everyone.
—Stacey O’Brien, author of Wesley the Owl
Saving Jemima is a guide to living one’s life with kindness and courage. Julie Zickefoose is a poet, a philosopher, and a woman who takes life as it comes and makes each day a triumph. Like Julie and Jemima, you will crash and soar.
—Jane Stern, author of Ambulance Girl
Saving Jemima is a story about an orphaned blue jay, but it is also about saving ourselves by letting go of the things we love. It is a beautiful portrait. I will never look at a blue jay in the same way again.
—Jane Alexander, actress, conservationist, and author of Wild Things, Wild Places
Publication Date: September 10, 2019
254 pages lavishly illustrated with 20 full color paintings and dozens of photos.
Hardcover: $30
Dimensions: 6" x 9"
Houghton Mifflin Company
