To Yellowstone: A Journey HomeBy Robert Scott McKinnonNew York Times Book ReviewBy Jean Craighead GeorgeAccept if you will, a Montana highway patrolman finding a senile monarch elk traveling with his senile she-elk out of season in a rainstorm and an escaped circus camel who gives birth to twins for the first time on record (almost losing one to a mountain lion and finally losing it to the elk pair), and you’ll enjoy this hurly-burly of zany events.It all begins when patrolman Max Smith assists a monarch (eight-point) elk out of a tangle of barb wire. Although elk generally migrate up and down mountains (not continents), Smith proceeds to follow the monarch and his she-elk approximately 300 miles from South Missoula to Yellowstone Park where the bull elk, we learn, is ostensibly heading home to die. The patrolman gets permission from Bill (the voice on the other end of this two-way radio), to pursue the pair for good reason. The She-elk having lost her own calf, has adopted the young lion-torn camel and both men are, needless to say, intrigued with the outcome.The fact that no game expert knows just how senile elk behave gives excuse for all the extraordinary elk behavior, including senile animals bearing young. Nevertheless, between adoptions, snowstorms, fence busting and the Max Smith family’s brief appearance in and out of the scenario, there is some excellent writing. Robert Scott McKinnon is at his best when describing the behavior of the two elk and the camel calf. The communications between the animals, their reaction to the environment and to disaster are vividly presented.A lovable animal character is another camel in the story, Fred, whose personality, intelligence, and a wry sense of humor are revealed as he leads Smith through the Montana forests. It’s worth all the credibility stretching to meet Fred and the two elk and so I will accept the tempest of events if not as humor, then as a device. New York Times Book Review To Yellowstone By Robert Scott McKinnon Illustrated by David Maloney 181 pp. New York Holt, Rinehart & Winston 6.95 (Ages 10 to 13) __________________________ By Jean Craighead George ___________________________ Accept if you will, a Montana highway patrolman finding a senile monarch elk traveling with his senile she-elk out of season in a rainstorm and an escaped circus camel who gives birth to twins for the first time on record (almost losing one to a mountain lion and finally losing it to the elk pair), and you'll enjoy this hurly-burly of zany events. It all begins when patrolman Max Smith assists a monarch (eight-point) elk out of a tangle of barb wire. Although elk generally migrate up and down mountains (not continents), Smith proceeds to follow the monarch and his she-elk approximately 300 miles from South Missoula to Yellowstone Park where the bull elk, we learn, is ostensibly heading home to die. The patrolman gets permission from Bill (the voice on the other end of this two-way radio), to pursue the pair for good reason. The She-elk having lost her own calf, has adopted t he young lion-torn camel and both men are, needless to say, intrigued with the outcome. The fact that no game expert knows just how senile elk behave gives excuse for all the extraordinary elk behavior, including senile animals bearing young. Nevertheless, between adoptions, snowstorms, fence busting and the Max Smith family's brief appearance in and out of the scenario, there is some excellent writing. Robert Scott McKinnon is at his best when describing the behavior of the two elk and the camel calf. The communications between the animals, their reaction to the environment and to disaster are vividly presented. A lovable animal character is another camel in the story, Fred, whose personality, intelligence, and a wry sense of humor are revealed as he leads Smith through the Montana forests. It's worth all the credibility stretching to meet Fred and the two elk and so I will accept the tempest of events if not as humor, then as a device. KIRKUSREVIEW Pub Date: Oct. 30th, 1975 Publisher:Holt, Rinehart & Winston One rainy night, Max Smith, a Montana HighwayPatrolman, rescues an old monarch elk from a barbed wire fence along the sideof the highway. He also encounters a pregnant camel escaped from a circus show,on the same Interstate 90. All part of a night's work. But then the camelescapes into the woods, gives birth to twins, kills a cougar which had attackedher newborn, and is finally recaptured with one baby camel by her trainer,assisted by Max (now astride a camel). The second twin, having wandered away fromhis mother in the woods, is adopted by the old monarch (remember him?) and hiscow (who had recently lost a calf to the now-dead cougar). Motivated by a largereward for the return of the camel calf and by a genuine concern for thewell-being of the elk, Max tracks the unlikely trio as they head forYellowstone National Park, hoping that they reach its sanctuary before thehunting season begi