For fans of Wesley the Owl and The Soul of an Octopus, the story of a sick baby bird nursed back to health and into the wild by renowned writer/artist Julie Zickefoose. When Jemima, a young orphaned blue jay, is brought to wildlife rehabilitator Julie Zickefoose, she is a virtually tailless, palm-sized bundle of gray-blue fluff. But she is starved and very sick. Julie’s constant care brings her … 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. When the PBS show Nature expresses interest in filming Jemima, Julie must train her to behave on camera, as the bird gets ever wilder. 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 Jemima strong and wild. She falls hard for this engaging, feisty and funny bird, 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 it.
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Julie Zickefoose is an artist and wildlife writer. She has been a wildlife rehabilitator, wildlife artist and photographer, wildlife blogger, and wildlife commentator for NPR. She’s been engaged with wildlife in some way for more than three decades. So of course I’m going to read her book on raising a blue jay! (my novel, DEAD FISH and What the Blue Jays Know–in which blue jays are characters– will be released in March).
It started with a blue jay egg discovered at the base of a maple tree. Zickefoose desperately tries to save this gorgeous precursor to life. She uses an incubator, calls bird specialists for advice, gives it constant attention. But it doesn’t make it. The egg dies.
While the egg goes cold, Zickefoose’s memory of it remains warm and imprinted in her brain; so the next year, after she successfully weans herself from her wildlife rehabilitator job– difficult since people don’t stop asking for help–, a woman/follower calls for advice about a tiny baby blue jay lost in her yard. Julie Zickefoose looks at the picture of the dehydrated baby bird and has an overwhelming desire to actually save this bird, not simply drive it to a wildlife rehabilitation center. And that begins the journey of raising a blue jay she names Jemima.
Challenge is not a strong enough word to describe Ms. Zickefoose’s blue jay rescue experience. The baby has to be fed continuously, once an hour. The baby gets sick and has to be treated. The baby grows and takes over the house. Then there is the emotional challenge of keeping that distance to prevent the bird from imprinting. That emotional distance is Zickefoose’s biggest challenge, because she falls in love. And this conflict of the heart endears the reader to the writer.
You can’t help but love this woman who falls in love not only with this one blue jay but with all blue jays. I particularly understand her emotions because I have fallen in love with the gang of blue jays that visit me, so I get her. But all readers will appreciate how special these witty and fun-loving birds are. They have charm. They have attitude. They have intelligence. She captures this perfectly.
She not only captures the wonder of blue jays but also educates us about them. Their mating habits, their molting, nesting, migration, interrelationships. She takes us deep into the bond between her, her family and this bird. No, she does not distance herself from the bird like we all expect wild life rehabilitators to do. She decides to engage. Good for her. And I think, perhaps because she is so experienced and understands proper balance, her strategy is effective. While some may argue against this type of rescue, she proves their their fears about imprinting wrong. The bird survives and eventually lives free. She has given it a gift of love and human bonding, all while maintaining respect for its freedom and wildlife dignity.
Jemima does indeed eventually join the free world. It’s sad but hopeful and in the end something happens that fills us with wonder. I will let you the reader discover that for yourself.
Wonderful book by a wonderful writer and wildlife lover. Read it!
Zickefoose’s engaging portrayal of Jemima is a great read. Beyond setting the record straight about the misunderstood role of imprinting, it is a work of love and passion for living and an appreciation of the natural world through the ambassador of a charismatic blue jay.
It’s amazing to be inspired by the grit and creative determination of a small blue jay but that’s exactly how the reader will feel, along with joy, pain, fear, relief, and compassion for plucky Jemima. She prevails against all odds, using her magnificent corvid brain to overcome every obstacle. This is not just a bird watcher’s story, but will touch all readers. Warm, joyful, deep, passionate, and multilayered, I recommend this book to everyone.
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 like Jemima) you will crash and soar and learn to hold the delicacy of life gently in the palm of your hand.
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. Julie Zickefoose describes Jemima in exquisite detail, the intricacies of raising her from babyhood to release, and the sorrows of the last goodbye. It is a beautiful portrait. I will never look at a blue jay in the same way again.
All blue jays have a penchant for stealing, but Jemima will steal your heart. Three cheers for this spunky baby bird! And three more for Julie Zickefoose, whose skilled and loving care saved Jemima’s life — and whose glorious watercolors and riveting personal narrative brings Jemima Jay alive for us lucky readers. I loved this book and you will, too.