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The Singing Forest
Set in the Scottish highlands, a true story of Corrie, a red deer
160 pages, Paperback
First published July 26, 1958
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 29, 2020
I have an extremely fond, and astonishingly vague childhood memory of a book about a squirrel. I don't remember if it was funny, an adventure, a picture book, or chapter book. I suspect I'll never find out!
This book, The Singing Forest, is it's deer equivalent. When my parents recently moved I took this book because the title and the cover were nostalgic, although I don't think I had ever read it, the 30+ years it sat on their shelves.
I'll never see deer the same. An enjoyable and adventurous read. I'm surprised how a tale of a deer kept so much of my attention!
This book, The Singing Forest, is it's deer equivalent. When my parents recently moved I took this book because the title and the cover were nostalgic, although I don't think I had ever read it, the 30+ years it sat on their shelves.
I'll never see deer the same. An enjoyable and adventurous read. I'm surprised how a tale of a deer kept so much of my attention!
October 22, 2019
The blurb to this book states "Like all first-rate books, this can be read with great pleasure by young and old", and many years after I first read it, it still holds its magic.
To me as a child, the world of the wild creatures of the Highlands was as utterly strange and as accepted as the world of Narnia; I've no idea whether the scenes described in this book still exist, or whether the culture has gone forever, but it taught me everything I've ever known about the life cycle of the red deer in the memorable way that only good fiction can. And while it may have been aimed by the publishers at 10-14-year-olds, the writing is a lot more technically sophisticated than that found in a lot of 21st century 'young adult' books, and very certainly not condescending to its audience; the descriptions are beautiful and evocative, and the book doesn't shy away from the violence and fear of the deer's existence. I remember being haunted on my first reading by the image of the yellowface stag dangling from the deer fence by his tangled antlers, and by the machine-gunning on the sand dunes. Humans exist in the story, but after little Corrie leaves his adopted family they exist only around the edges.
The author knows his subject, and indeed bases its details around the history of an orphaned deer calf raised by his own children and returned to the wild (with his ragged, weather-worn studded dog-collar eventually found under mysterious circumstances and hung up wih its story in the day-nursery). And he clearly loves both the animals and the landscape they inhabit, with an unsentimental eye whose perception shines through the prose. In style, and in the occasional blurring of natural and supernatural, I'm reminded of Rosemary Sutcliff, which is high praise when it comes to children's literature.
To me as a child, the world of the wild creatures of the Highlands was as utterly strange and as accepted as the world of Narnia; I've no idea whether the scenes described in this book still exist, or whether the culture has gone forever, but it taught me everything I've ever known about the life cycle of the red deer in the memorable way that only good fiction can. And while it may have been aimed by the publishers at 10-14-year-olds, the writing is a lot more technically sophisticated than that found in a lot of 21st century 'young adult' books, and very certainly not condescending to its audience; the descriptions are beautiful and evocative, and the book doesn't shy away from the violence and fear of the deer's existence. I remember being haunted on my first reading by the image of the yellowface stag dangling from the deer fence by his tangled antlers, and by the machine-gunning on the sand dunes. Humans exist in the story, but after little Corrie leaves his adopted family they exist only around the edges.
The author knows his subject, and indeed bases its details around the history of an orphaned deer calf raised by his own children and returned to the wild (with his ragged, weather-worn studded dog-collar eventually found under mysterious circumstances and hung up wih its story in the day-nursery). And he clearly loves both the animals and the landscape they inhabit, with an unsentimental eye whose perception shines through the prose. In style, and in the occasional blurring of natural and supernatural, I'm reminded of Rosemary Sutcliff, which is high praise when it comes to children's literature.
January 4, 2026
A sweet little story about an orphaned deer calf which is 'adopted' and raised by the Laird's children before returning to life in the wild. The forward mentions it's for children in their early teens, which was probably true when it was first published in the 1950s, but now I think it will be most popular among nostalgic adults.
The author states that the book is a 'true' story based on a deer calf that his own children raised. His descriptions of the deer are beautifully observed, and it's obvious that he has spent a lot of time watching and learning their behaviour. However, I don't feel it is a 'true' story as the author indulges in a lot of anthropomorphism, such as describing a wildcat as being 'spiteful' when it tries to catch prey or claiming that the other deer calves 'envy' the one who was adopted!!!
It's a nice book of its type, if not particularly outstanding. NB: readers should be aware that it does include some accounts of animal suffering and also is very much of its time in terms of attitudes to class and gender.
The author states that the book is a 'true' story based on a deer calf that his own children raised. His descriptions of the deer are beautifully observed, and it's obvious that he has spent a lot of time watching and learning their behaviour. However, I don't feel it is a 'true' story as the author indulges in a lot of anthropomorphism, such as describing a wildcat as being 'spiteful' when it tries to catch prey or claiming that the other deer calves 'envy' the one who was adopted!!!
It's a nice book of its type, if not particularly outstanding. NB: readers should be aware that it does include some accounts of animal suffering and also is very much of its time in terms of attitudes to class and gender.
September 26, 2021
My dad actually recommended this book to me, letting me borrow his own copy from when he was younger and it is such a lovely book. This is the story of a young orphaned deer upon the highlands where it seems as though everything is against him and testing him. This is a story of love; compassion, bravery, adventure, peril and growth. We follow this young deer throughout his life and get to experience everything in a way that personifies the deer and pulls you into his world from his perspective which I found to be really engaging and enjoyable. You do get to flit between the deer and his adoptive family which gives you two different viewpoints but this was such a gripping read which was also charming and beautiful, making me want to keep reading on, its also such a unique story with a brilliant way of both telling a story and teaching you about these deer and how they live, choices they have to face and hardships mixed with success.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews