The Ballad of Blue Eagle, written by Steven E. Jones and illustrated by his son, is a story of a group of animals living in Peaceful Valley. The story has a villain, Clugar the Cougar, and a hero, Blue Eagle. The evil cougar comes into the valley to make a meal of the small animals, which are saved by Blue Eagle, who carries Clugar back to the mountains, where he can no longer disturb Peaceful Valley.

The animals include a squirrel, a rabbit, a turtle (who is purple), a deer, and a raccoon, to name a few. Oddly enough, there is also an armadillo living in the valley. Perhaps it had to relocate to the lush wilderness due to overwhelming suburban development in Texas and Florida, since armadillos are not typically found in the lush valleys depicted in the book. Or, maybe the armadillo is a Democrat and couldn't bear living in the red states anymore.

The book is written in rhyme, which is fun to read at times, and tedious at others. The audience is young juvenile, which is unfortunate, since the book is marketed as a nature genre but would give misconceptions to any children who would read it. Besides the obvious armadillo in the lush valley error, there is also the problem that it makes a villain of the cougar, who is just doing what cougars do, which is live as carnivores and eat small animals. Blue Eagle would also be a carnivore; however, in this story, he has no inclination to eat the small animals that he would usually make as his meals.

The illustrations are mediocre — neither spectacular nor horrible — but are still better than the narrative.

The book also doesn't explain why the eagle is blue or the turtle is purple. And I can't begin to guess why the cougar is a villain. It would make more sense to have humans as the villains. It also doesn't make sense that Blue Eagle is the hero-perhaps this is prompted by patriotism. The hero has suppressed his carnivorous urges but shown no respect for the Endangered Species Act and nearly kills the cougar. Bad, repressed, misguided hero; bad hero!

The verdict — only one star for this Blue Eagle.

Synergy Books, 2004: ISBN 0974764442