A PLACE FOR DELTA by Melissa Walker

In this time of global warming, destructive oil spills, and other events that threaten our environment, reading a book like A PLACE FOR DELTA restores hope that some people are more concerned with preservation than destruction.

A PLACE FOR DELTA spans two generations and travels from Georgia to Alaska and back again.  Kate was raised by her biologist mother to respect the wilderness and all it contains.  When she is given the chance to study under Dr. Yu, an expert in the study of polar bears, she jumped at the chance.  Living in the northern reaches of Alaska in not much more than a shack didn't bother her as long as she was experiencing and learning more about the wild.  What she didn't expect was a chance to help rescue and raise a polar bear cub.

Delta was rescued after her mother was shot.  Her rescue was kept a secret in case the killing of her mother turned out to be part of a plot to destroy the polar bear population to benefit greedy oil companies.  When Kate learns of the orphan cub, she volunteers to be its care-giver.  She also enlists the help of her young nephew, Joseph. 

Joseph arrives from Georgia and steps right into the role of polar bear feeder, teacher, and entertainer.  Even though he worries that Alaska is pretty far from his home in Georgia, it doesn't take long for him to fit right in in Barrow, Alaska.  On one of his first trips to town, he meets Ada.  They become fast friends and soon join forces to solve a mystery.  Both of them are privy to whispered secrets about the death of Delta's polar bear mother and some strangers poking around the area.  They use their insider status to gather enough information to help figure out what is going on.

A PLACE FOR DELTA by Melissa Walker is packed with action.  Even before she has her characters living in the Alaskan wilderness saving polar bears, she creates suspense with hikes in the woods of Georgia that include bears and rattlesnakes.  Her characters are very conscious of nature and their surroundings and always trying to do right by the environment.  This is a great book for readers interested in environmental causes or for those who simply remember trying to save that little abandoned baby rabbit or tiny featherless baby bird.  Substitute an active little polar bear and an intriguing mystery, and readers should be pleased when they pick up a copy of A PLACE FOR DELTA.