“How does a creek get lost?” So begins Creekfinding, the inspiring, true-life tale by Jacqueline Briggs Martin ’66 of a trout creek buried beneath the Iowa prairie and of Mike Osterholm, the man who brought it burbling back to life, thus reviving a whole ecosystem.

“Lost is lost,” the naysayers in the book say. But Mike proves that what is gone can be recovered; you can catch brook trout in a former cornfield.

Creekfinding is lyrically written, yet with helpful footnotes explaining the hows and whys of creekbuilding. (How do you get the water flowing again? How do the fish make their way back?) Martin is also the author of the classic Snowflake Bentley, the true story of Wilson Bentley, the first-known photographer of snowflakes, which won the 1999 Caldecott Medal for its detailed woodcut illustrations by Mary Azarian. For those who know and love Snowflake Bentley, there is much to like in Creekfinding,which also showcases colorful, dynamic woodcuts, this time by Claudia McGehee.

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