Adventures With Grapenut

Loon. The name alone is evocative. I’ll never forget the experience of being surrounded by hundreds of loons on the Atlantic in mid-winter. The air was filled with their haunting sounds. But the quintessential loon experience would have to be on a northern lake during their breeding season. I’ve never met them there, but feel like I have after reading Adventures With Grapenut.

In Adventures with Grapenut, John Rockwood monitors a pair of Common Loons on a New Hampshire lake as they raise a single chick (whom he christens Grapenut). Through photographs and diary-like text entries, the reader follows the life of the young loon from the time it’s a few days old until it leaves for the winter. Along the way, we see the parents’ fierce devotion in feeding and caring for their chick. We watch Grapenut play games with Rockwood, learn to fish, and eventually fly.

With all apologies to Grapenut, the photography is the real star of this book. Taken from a kayak, these pictures are simply amazing; they are about the most intimate shots of loons that you can imagine. With such pictures, one might worry that the author intruded upon the birds and unduly stressed them. But I was pleased to read that Rockwood took great pains not to do so. Further, the adults were used to him as he had been paddling among them for years (they were banded, so he could tell they were the same birds). This familiarity – on both sides – makes the photos and story stand out.

The fairly brief text narrates what is happening in the pictures and gives further context. Facts and general information about loons are also sprinkled into the narrative. Although not on par with the pictures (and aside from some issues with commas), the author does a good job utilizing the limited space to relate his summer with the loons.

Recommendation

As an adult birder, I appreciated the story contained in Adventures With Grapenut and was blown away by the photography. But, even though it doesn’t seem to be written specifically for them, I think children will get the most out of this book. Watching Grapenut grow up is not only fun, but educational as well. And it doesn’t hurt that he was a cute little thing. Open up the book, play some loon recordings, and you’ll think you’re right there on the lake with Grapenut and his family.

A portion of proceeds from sales of this book will be donated to the New Hampshire Audubon Society and the Loon Preservation Committee.