If you were a beaver, how do you think that you would feel if you had trouble swimming well and building lodges? Beatrix is a beaver who lives with her parents and two older siblings in a spacious lodge on Beaver Creek. Her brother Bevan is an expert with twigs and mud. Her sister Beverly performs perfect underwater somersaults. But whatever Beatrix tries to do, whether gnawing trees, stashing branches, storing food for winter, mending the lodge, building a dam, or digging a canal, something always seems to go wrong. Wondering what she’s good for, one day she swims upstream and gets caught in a trap. And when Beverly and Bevan come to find her, they get caught in traps too. How can they get out? Will they ever be able to go home? Is there anyone who can help them?
Did you know that beavers are the largest rodents in North America? In years past, our boys participated in a couple of nature programs at local parks, one in Dayton, OH, and the other in St. Louis, MO, related to beavers. Author Jean Heilprin Diehl’s cute story, accompanied by Cathy Morrison’s lovable illustrations, will not only acquaint children with the habits of beavers but also encourage them to discover their own special talents. Four pages of “For Creative Minds” learning activities include fun facts about beavers and their adaptations, a hands-on craft making lodges and dams, and thought questions concerning whether beavers are pests or environmental engineers. The publisher’s website has even more free activities. After reading Three Little Beavers, youngsters will be “as eager as a beaver” to know more about nature’s dam-builders. ( )