cover image The Swan in My Bathtub: And Other Adventure in the Aark

The Swan in My Bathtub: And Other Adventure in the Aark

Mary Jane Stretch, Phyllis Hobe. Dutton Books, $18.95 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-525-24999-3

As a child, Stretch cared for wild animals, treating the sick, maimed and orphaned among them. Today, she runs the Aark, a nonprofit wildlife rehabilitation center in Newtown, Pa. Her unusual devotion to everything wild--from baby raccoons to deer to a bat named Bruce to Sabrina, the near-frozen swan of the title--beams through in this upbeat and stirring collection of essays written with Hobe ( Lovebound ). A rehabber's work, notes Stretch, is to put wildlife back into the food chain in good health. The appendix offers tips on attracting wildlife near human habitats. Stretch's account will likely summon smiles and a few tears from even zoophobic readers. Photos. (June)