The Maze (Paperback or Softback)

Like Aesop's Fables and Orwell's Animal Farm, The Maze is populated with animal characters who, in their words and actions, reveal truths about human nature. In The Woods, a very popular, clever, and ambitious rat named Sniff-who commands a pack of deputy rats known as The Five-intends to replace the aging leader, Owl, when he retires on election day in two weeks. As a famous athlete of the air in his youth, Owl has established The Tradition of Wings.

In his speeches to the animals, Sniff-an assistant to Owl but already acting as if he's the leader-promises to establish what he calls "The Kingdom of Sharing," in which rats will be "leaders" and all other animals will be "followers." Opposing Sniff's rise to power are two winged animals-a well-known poet hawk, Wing, and his studious friend, Butterfly-and Claws, a young, robust, and competitive squirrel.

The central image of the story is a maze. Sniff has one built ostensibly for community recreation but actually to make money and to display rats' superiority as maze-runners. Other characters in this sometimes-humorous story include Spider, an architect; Snake, a "shady" character; Stub, a mole who assists Sniff; and Frog, an instructor of bug-catching.

The Maze is not only about human nature but about animal life in general. It explores necessities of survival such as status and power, altruism and self-interest, the defense of territory, and the conquering of enemies through group cooperation.

David Allan Evans grew up in Sioux City, Iowa. He began college on a football scholarship, and by the time he graduated--majoring in English and minoring in Biology--he was writing poetry and fiction. His interest in literature and natural history began in his teens when his self-educated father recited Shakespeare and spoke often of Darwin and other great observers of animals. The author of nine collections of poems, he was a professor of English and writer in residence at South Dakota State University for many years, as well as a Fulbright Scholar, twice in China, and poet laureate of South Dakota for 14 years.