The Fountain Hills Library has a new book donated by a former Fountain Hills resident.

Rebecca Seymour and her family were visiting in Fountain HiIls recently and took the opportunity to donate her book to the library. She wrote her debut book called Connecting with Wisconsin Wildlife with co-author Rebecca Mattano. The book shines a spotlight on the efforts of wildlife rehabilitation and education programs like the Wildlife in Need Center. The purpose of the book is to also inspire a lifelong love for wildlife and the natural world. Connecting With Wisconsin Wildlife tells the story of Dakota the great horned owl, a beloved educational animal for the Wildlife In Need Center.

The book also takes readers on a walk through Wisconsin’s diverse, natural habitats and introduces interesting features about some of the state’s native animals that live within these vital ecosystems.

Readers will also discover ways to connect with wildlife through hands-on projects that help plant the seeds of stewardship and a lifelong love for Wisconsin’s magnificent natural legacy.

The Wildlife In Need Center is a nonprofit organization located in Oconomowoc, Wis. that provides treatment and care of sick, injured and orphaned indigenous wildlife with the goal of returning healthy animals to their natural habitats in the wild. Since its inception in 1994, over 38,000 animals representing more than 140 species have been brought to the center for care or medical attention.

Rebecca worked at CopperWynd resort as the special events coordinator two of the four years they lived here. When time came for her and husband, Bill, to start a family, they decided they would do so close to family including the grandparents. Bill is a child psychologist at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

They have two little girls, Katie, age 10, and Sophie, 6.

In addition to being a mom to the girls, Rebecca is a writer and columnist for the Oconomowoc Focus newspaper.Her column is called “Pebbles in My Pocket.” She describes her award-winning column “as a reflection of living and loving in this little corner of Wisconsin’s lake country.”

A teacher naturalist, Rebecca tries to spend as much time outside as possible and even spent five months living in a tent, working as a wilderness guide and camp cook in the most remote areas of the Grand Teton Wilderness in Wyoming.

Rebecca is resigned to living in a house in Oconomowoc, yet continues to tap into the wildness and beauty of nature within her own community. She developed and taught outdoor nature programs for children and families, has volunteered at the Retzer Nature Center in Waukesha and is an active member of the Wildlife In Need Center in Oconomowoc.

The family visit to Fountain Hills was a complete surprise to the girls. They had a vision of the desert being all sand and no plants.

“The girls really loved it,” Rebecca said. “We had a room at The Inn at Eagle Mountain and there was a cactus wren nest with babies that the two parents were feeding throughout the day. It was a different natural setting for them and they both want to come back!”