Gorham children’s author-illustrator Cathryn Falwell is among those delighted the wild turkey is back in Maine.

Falwell’s latest book, recently released by a national publisher, is called “Gobble, Gobble.” It stars the wild turkey. She’s a fan of nature and the wild turkey. “They eat ticks! I think that’s great,” Falwell said.

Her book is not about Thanksgiving; it’s about the wild turkey through the change of seasons, observed by a little girl named Jenny.

Falwell got the idea for her book from her back yard. “I’m in Gorham. We have wild turkeys,” she said with a chuckle. Falwell said she gets a kick out of watching turkeys. “They come right up to the front door. They’re not afraid.”

In her colorfully illustrated book, Jenny watches turkeys at a distance, noting what they do in different seasons. In the spring Jenny hears turkeys gobbling and male turkeys spreading their feathers. In the summer Jenny watches baby turkeys, called poults, run with their mothers. In the winter, turkeys slip and slid on the ice, and roost on a snowman.

The winter scene happened, Falwell said.

“One winter there was a crust of ice on the snow. The turkeys were sliding and crashing through,” amusing Falwell as she watched. “I said, ‘These guys are hysterical.’ That’s where it started.”

Another time she built a snowman and put bird food on it. Sure enough, turkeys went up to the snowman and ate.

Her goal in writing nature books is to encourage children to read and get outside and wonder at nature. “Gobble Gobble” offers children tips on how to make a nature journal and observe the footprints of wildlife.

“I’m a big crusader to get kids outside, back in nature,” she said. Children have been disconnected from the natural world. Too many consider the great outdoors a dangerous place. “That’s very sad,” she said.

Her book was released in September. The hard cover is temporarily sold out, but the soft cover is available. The publisher is Dawn Publications of California.

Falwell grew up in Kansas and moved to Maine about 15 years when her husband came here for work. Her family recently became Auburn taxpayers. “We bought a little summer camp on Taylor Pond,” she said.

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