Phoebe’s Heron

PHOEBE’S HERON is set in Colorado in 1900. Twelve-year-old Phoebe Greer, her family, and Nurse Daisy arrive at their new cliff-top cabin in the foothills of the Rockies. They have moved from Denver hoping that altitude and fresh air will heal Phoebe’s mother’s tuberculosis. 

While Phoebe wants her mother to get well, she misses city life in Denver and her best friend Lisbeth, whose parents own Denver’s finest millinery store, where the two girls have spent many hours parading with fancy feathered hats on their heads.

Phoebe loves to draw. Her father gives her a sketchbook, and she soon meets Jed, a local. However, young Jed is a plume hunter, a commercial hunter of birds. He desperately wants to find a great blue heron, whose feathers are in demand for women’s hats. The two become friends, as Jed shows Phoebe the delights of nature in the Colorado Rockies.

Then, alone one day, Phoebe sees a magnificent great blue heron in the creek, which she sketches. But she does not tell Jed about seeing this bird. Soon after, Phoebe’s mother grows worse.

This is a lovely story about discovery and friendship, and ultimately the courage to take a stand for something greater than oneself.