Zauberlinda, the Wise Witch

On the vast South Dakota prairie, six-year-old Annie Elfrida McLane lives in a little brown house within sight of the Black Hills. She has no neighbors, no school, no other children to play with, just her father who prospects for gold, her grandmother, and the servants Marthy Stubbs and Pete Pumpernickle. Her only companions are her black cat Silvertip and the creatures of the surrounding fields and meadows. Then one summer day, Annie rescues a wounded prairie dog from a trap. But this is no ordinary animal. The other creatures of her world sense something strange and fear it. Annie builds the prairie dog a little house, names it, and hopes for a friend. But the creature has its own nature, its own wildness, and soon escapes back to the wild. What follows is a tender, strange tale of a lonely child and a magical being whose true nature remains beautifully elusive. This is old-fashioned prairie fantasy at its most gentle and evocative, a story about the loneliness of childhood and the wonder of unexpected connections.