Scarlett Red

Book excerpt: After a failed attempt to fly, a fledgling female cardinal is saved from the jaws of a cat and brought into the home of a family living on Florida's coast. Raised with an eyedropper and a great deal of loving care, the tiny bird encounters many adventures in her young life, including a three-day ordeal outdoors during an intense winter storm, during which she nearly dies before the family finds her and brings her indoors again. Later when she answers the mating call of a male redbird on the other side of the patio's screen, the family attempts to lure her to his side outdoors, but instead the male chooses to come inside the patio to live with her there. She builds a nest, and together the pair rides out a hurricane, as she hunkers lower on her three tiny speckled eggs while her mate stands by on the branch above the nest. Her name is Scarlett, his name is Red, and the story reaches a happy ending with the arrival of the pair's first-hatched baby bird.