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MOTHER NUMBER ZERO

Name: MOTHER NUMBER ZERO
Author: Marjolijn Hof
ISBN: 978-1-55498-078-9

by Marjolijn Hof & translated by Johanna H. Prins & Johanna W. Prins ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2011

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In a simply written tale realistically built on half-formed questions and incomplete answers, a young adoptee suddenly starts thinking about his birth mother. Fejzo—Fay—has always known he was given up for adoption in the Netherlands by a refugee from the war in Bosnia. The probing queries of a nosy new girl he meets in a local park lead him to wonder for the first time about who and where his “mother number zero” (not “number one,” because that would make his current mother “number two,” and that seems wrong to him) might be, and to ask his loving adoptive parents for more information. Rather than lay out this line of enquiry’s potentially devastating effects on Fay’s psyche and family life, Hof lets readers do their own figuring. She provides hints through the way Fay’s questioning upsets his parents, draws him repeatedly into worried “Are you sure you want to know?” exchanges and sends his older sister Ping (also adopted, but as an abandoned baby) into fits of rage and tears. Ultimately Fay does win indirect contact with his biological mother and comes away with a picture and a promise that, maybe, in a few years, there might be more. By the end he’s wise enough to be willing to wait. Readers able to look between the lines will find plenty to ponder here. (Fiction. 10-13)

Pub Date: April 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-1-55498-078-9

Page Count: 168

Publisher: Groundwood

Review Posted Online: April 10, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2011

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
AGAINST THE ODDS
by Marjolijn Hof and translated by Johanna H. Prins and Johanna W. Prins

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THE MECHANICAL MIND OF JOHN COGGIN

by Elinor Teele ; illustrated by Ben Whitehouse ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2016

A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.

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The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.

Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)

A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)

Pub Date: April 12, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

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HOW TO SPEAK DOLPHIN

by Ginny Rorby ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 26, 2015

Dolphin lovers will appreciate this look at our complicated relationship with these marine mammals.

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Is dolphin-assisted therapy so beneficial to patients that it’s worth keeping a wild dolphin captive?

Twelve-year-old Lily has lived with her emotionally distant oncologist stepfather and a succession of nannies since her mother died in a car accident two years ago. Nannies leave because of the difficulty of caring for Adam, Lily’s severely autistic 4-year-old half brother. The newest, Suzanne, seems promising, but Lily is tired of feeling like a planet orbiting the sun Adam. When she meets blind Zoe, who will attend the same private middle school as Lily in the fall, Lily’s happy to have a friend. However, Zoe’s take on the plight of the captive dolphin, Nori, used in Adam’s therapy opens Lily’s eyes. She knows she must use her influence over her stepfather, who is consulting on Nori’s treatment for cancer (caused by an oil spill), to free the animal. Lily’s got several fine lines to walk, as she works to hold onto her new friend, convince her stepfather of the rightness of releasing Nori, and do what’s best for Adam. In her newest exploration of animal-human relationships, Rorby’s lonely, mature heroine faces tough but realistic situations. Siblings of children on the spectrum will identify with Lily. If the tale flirts with sentimentality and some of the characters are strident in their views, the whole never feels maudlin or didactic.

Dolphin lovers will appreciate this look at our complicated relationship with these marine mammals. (Fiction. 10-13)