Cougar Cove

Sheree Haughian is an elementary-school teacher-librarian with the
Dufferin County Board of Education.

Eleven-year-old Samantha has high expectations for a fantastic summer on
the West Coast but she is sorely disappointed when she arrives at her
aunt and uncle’s Vancouver Island home. Everything is so different and
threatening. Her aunt and uncle are kind enough, but the twin cousins
she remembered so favorably as young children are older and mean. They
nickname her “Gullible” from “Trawna,” and set her up to appear
as a weak and incompetent city dupe. Left to her own amusements, Sam
relinquishes human contact for a relationship with the island’s
beautiful natural world. Her explorations become more adventurous,
eventually leading her to a meeting with a wild cougar and cubs, an
encounter that proves her resourcefulness and bravery both to her and to
her cousins.

Although the overall plot is predictable enough, this novel is far from
being tedious or mundane. Samantha’s plight, a universal one in some
guise or other, solicits much empathy from the reader; her preadolescent
journey through isolation and despair to self-discovery and peer
approval is both poignant and credible. The novel’s vivid evocation of
the West Coast’s natural wilderness is equally appealing. Highly
recommended.