The reader is made to feel deeply and thrillingly the terror and anguish of the hunted, the deceit and cruelty of the savage, the patience and devotion of the mother to her young, the fury of rivals in love, the grace and loneliness of the great princes of the forest. In word pictures that are sometimes breath-taking the author draws the forest in all its moods—lashed into madness by storms, or white and silent under snow, or whispering and singing to itself at daybreak .Louise Long, The Dallas Morning News, October 30, 1938[39]

Bambi is a delicious book. for delicacy of perception and essential truth i hardly know any story of animals that can stand beside this life study of a forest deer. felix salten is a poet. he feels nature deeply, and he loves animals. i do not, as a rule, like the method which places human words in the mouths of dumb creatures, and it is the triumph of this book that, behind the conversation, one feels the real sensations of the creatures who speak. clear and illuminating, and in places very moving, it is a little masterpiece.

I read it in galley proof on the way from paris to calais, before a channel crossing. as i finished each sheet i handed it to my wife, who read, and handed it to my nephew’s wife, who read, and handed it to my nephew. for three hours the four of us read thus in silent absorption. those who know what it is to read books in galley proof, and have experienced channel crossings, will realize that few books will stand such a test. bambi is one of them. I particularly recommend it to sportsmen. march 16th, 1928 john galsworthy

The novel traces the life of Bambi, a male roe deer, from his birth through childhood, the loss of his mother, the finding of a mate, the lessons he learns from his father, and the experience he gains about the dangers posed by human hunters in the forest.