After years in captivity, a brilliant otter escapes into the wild
Growing up in the high country, Swimmer bathed in clean water and dined on fresh crawfish. Then the trapper came, killing Swimmer’s mother and imprisoning him and his sister, who did not survive. After years of being poked and prodded by the Professor, he has had enough. He slips out of the townhouse and into the park across the street but is forced to return home when the city water proves too filthy to swim in. Unable to proceed on his own, he does something he vowed never to do: He asks the caretaker, Clarence, for help.
Convinced that Swimmer would die in the wild, Clarence refuses to help the otter break free. And so, when the Professor is on a trip to Nashville for a lecture, Swimmer takes his chance, escaping back into the high country. It’s a wild world out there, and this clever otter intends to conquer it all.
Alexander Key (1904–1979) started out as an illustrator before he began writing science fiction novels for young readers. He has published many titles, including Sprockets: A Little Robot, Mystery of the Sassafras Chair, and The Forgotten Door, winner of the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. Key’s novel Escape to Witch Mountain was adapted for film in 1975, 1995, and 2009.