Haas has done much better—a disappointment.
A pampered, then abused, pony finds her horse-crazy girl.
The novel starts from the tightly focused third-person point of view of a filly being born. Soon named Princess, she’s the last foal out of breeder Roland’s favorite Connemara mare. The perspective then shifts to Rae, a horse-obsessed almost-8-year-old who lives nearby. Rae’s mom is dead; though they live on a small farm, her father can’t afford a pony. Her grandmother, however, encourages her to keep working toward her goal, so, as a few years pass, Rae goes to horse shows, watches frenemy Eden’s riding lessons, and practices on a horse statue her dad makes from scrap metal. Meanwhile, chapters from Princess’ point of view detail how her pampered life amounts to neglect. When Roland suffers a stroke, his cartoon-villain employees abscond with his riches, leaving a field of ponies, including Princess, to starve. Eventually Princess is rescued by Tish, a character familiar from some of Haas’ other horse books (Jigsaw Pony, illustrated by Ying-Hwa Hu, 2005, etc.), and ridden by Rae, who’s saved up for Tish’s riding camp. Love ensues, as does a patented happy ending. Clumsy characterization and a predictable plot make for dull reading despite a fair amount of melodrama. Roland is strangely unlikable, and Rae feels one-dimensional. All the human characters are White.
Haas has done much better—a disappointment. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68437-794-7
Page Count: 190
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
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