A Search for Safe Passage

by Frances Figart, Emma DuFort (Illustrator)

Overview

Animals in the Great Smoky Mountains embark on a dangerous journey of survival in this educational adventure book for ages 7-13 about the places where wildlife must cross roads.

This compelling, accessible narrative is perfect for introducing readers to the problems and solutions around the global issue of roadway ecology, animal migration, and the ‘barrier effect.’

Best friends Bear and Deer grew up on the North side of a beautiful Appalachian gorge. In the time of their grandparents, animals could travel freely on either side of a fast-flowing river, but now the dangerous Human Highway divides their home range into the North and South sides. On the night of a full moon, two strangers arrive from the South with news that will lead to tough decisions, a life-changing adventure, and new friends joining in a search for safe passage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780937207017
Publisher:	Smokies Life
Publication date:	03/16/2021
Pages:	122
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	7 - 13 Years

About the Author

Author Frances Figart grew up in eastern Kentucky where she learned to love living near wildlife. Always a writer and editor, she now directs the Creative Services department at Great Smoky Mountains Association and edits Smokies Life magazine, the premier benefit for GSMA members. She is the editor of the 2019 GSMA title, Back of Beyond: A Horace Kephart Biography, which won the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award that same year. She authored a collection of her autobiographical essays, Seasons of Letting Go: Most of what I know about truly living I learned by helping someone die. A Search for Safe Passage is her first book for young readers. Frances Figart lives near Asheville, North Carolina.

Illustrator Emma DuFort hails from west Michigan and visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park frequently as a child. After graduating from Grand Valley State Universitywith a degree in illustration, she returned to live and work in the Smokies. Starting out as a sales assistant in visitor centers run by Great Smoky Mountains Association, she soon became a publications specialist working with GSMA’s Creative Services department. Emma has also earned a naturalist certification from Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont. A Search for Safe Passage is the first book she has designed and illustrated. Emma DuFort lives near Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Danger on the Human Highway 1

Chapter 2 Discovering the Black Hole 9

Chapter 3 Meeting of the Forest Council 16

Chapter 4 Strangers Entend an Invitation 22

Chapter 5 Journey to a Secret Passage 30

Chapter 6 A Traveler Tells of a Landbridge 38

Chapter 7 New Friends Along the Way 48

Chapter 8 Reunion on the Landbridge 57

Meet the Real Animals 70

How to Help them Cross 92

Influences, Allusions, and Thanks 102

Safe Passage: Animals Need a Hard (Song) 106

About the Author and Illustrator 110

Editorial Reviews

Why did the bear cross the road? Author Frances Figart answers this question for young readers in this story of companionship and adventure. Through the journey of a variety of likeable forest animals, concepts of road ecology and the effect of highways on wildlife movement are introduced in a simple, understandable manner. This book gives young influencers the tools to impact how we as a society address highway wildlife mortality in the future.”
~Terry McGuire, retired Highway Engineer, Parks Canada

“In this imaginative and beautifully illustrated book, Frances Figart offers a delightful cast of wild characters—and allows us to see our world through an animal’s eyes. Her story of their journey to find a safe passage over a dangerous highway helps us understand the perilous and often deadly threats our roads pose to animals everywhere, and provides insight into the ways we as humans can solve this problem by building wildlife crossings.”
~Beth Pratt, author of When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors and leader of the National Wildlife Federation’s #SaveLACougars campaign

“A Search for Safe Passage is a very accessible introduction to the problems and solutions associated with highways, traffic, and wildlife. Through easily understandable stories of the animal characters, we learn that cars can kill animals, and that a busy highway can also be a barrier to the search for food, water, mates, and new areas to live. The stories of the animals in this book also show that different species have different requirements for safe crossing opportunities. Kids quickly understand the principles... they get it!... and so can adults!”
~Marcel Huijser, PhD, road ecologist, Wildlife Biologist

“Frances Figart pulls back the underbrush and provides a glimpse into the secretive world of wildlife that inhabit the forests near Interstate 40, just outside the boundary of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She brings to light a real-world problem—and potential solutions—from the perspective of the critters. This is a great book whose time has come!”
~Jeff Hunter, Senior Program Manager, National Parks Conservation Association

"A thoughtful introduction to road ecology and biodiversity for young people." — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2021-02-10
Why must forest creatures sacrifice their lives and livelihoods to highways for humans?

Bear and Deer are best friends who have both lost their mothers to accidents with “metal boxes with wheels” while trying to make it from the North to the South across the Human Highway. Bobcat and Coyote are two friends who lost their mentor, Fox, in a similar manner and have vowed to find a better way to get to the North from the South. Many of the Woodland animals form a Forest Council, working together to find alternative ways to seek optimal food and mates without crossing the Human Highway. They eventually find a “black hole” (later explained to be a culvert) and, with the help of the legendary Elk, a “landbridge.” The story is based on a real challenge in a real setting: the Pigeon River Gorge near the border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. First-time children’s author Figart uses fictionalized animal relationships, anthropomorphism, song-lyric references, and snatches of poetry to effectively engage readers’ emotions regarding the real danger of species extinction. DuFort’s full-color cartoon illustrations add a further child-friendly note. The book concludes with scientific facts about animal types and highway design alternatives that may mutually benefit both humans and wildlife.

A thoughtful introduction to road ecology and biodiversity for young people. (author’s note) (Fantasy. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews