Lily to the Rescue: The Not-So-Stinky Skunk

W. Bruce Cameron's Lily to the Rescue: The Not-So-Stinky Skunk is a funny outdoor animal story for 7 year olds, told by a dog meeting the wild for the very first time.

What happens

Maggie Rose has been promised a camping trip with just her dad. Her brothers want to come too, and for a minute it looks like she's lost that argument. Then Craig, the oldest, comes round to her side. (It's a really lovely little moment between them.)

Dad's a game warden, so the trip starts with a job. A colony of prairie dogs is in the way of some new houses. The plan is to move them with what is basically a giant vacuum cleaner.

Lily is told to stay in the truck. Lily does not stay in the truck.

Then it's the tent, hot dogs on sticks and a lake. And in a bush by the water, Lily meets a new friend. She's small and black with two white stripes down her back, and Lily decides she must be some kind of squirrel.

You can guess what Maggie Rose shouts next. What nobody can guess is why Lily doesn't smell of anything afterwards.

Lily tells the whole thing, and she gets almost everything gloriously wrong. Prairie dogs are hole-in-the-ground squirrels. The tent is a cloth house. Baths are the worst thing people ever invented, apart from the word no. Children love being one step ahead of her.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Lily wades into the lake after a stick, the bottom drops away and she sinks right under. Maggie Rose goes in after her and ends up out of her depth too, until Dad jumps in and carries them both out.

Everyone's fine, and Dad has a quiet word about always calling a grown-up. But it's tense for a page or two, so a child who's nervous around water might want you close by.

There's also some plain talk about animals that can't look after themselves in the wild. It's handled gently, and it's what makes Lily's job feel like it matters.

If your reader likes animal facts with their giggles, this is a good one. They'll find out why some dogs can't swim and how a skunk protects itself, without noticing they're learning anything.

What to read next

Lily's back in Dog Dog Goose, where a planter full of newly hatched goslings decides that she must be their mum.