Utterly charmed by a spunky girl and her charismatic canine, mystery fans will find themselves looking forward to a return...
In a Louisiana bayou town, a girl and her dog set out to solve a mystery, battling bad guys and big gators along the way.
This original whodunit is narrated by an exuberant dog named Bowser, who has just been adopted by 11-year-old Birdie Gaux. Birdie and her grandmother are shocked to discover that a prized stuffed fish, Black Jack, has just been stolen from the family’s fish-and-bait store. How could a stuffed fish be worth stealing? Maybe if there’s a treasure map hidden inside. Birdie and Bowser begin to investigate in earnest, their sleuthing involving everything from breaking into rival establishment Straker’s World Famous Fishing Emporium, gathering clues at the library and the local assisted living facility, and traipsing through the bayou at night in search of the treasure that Birdie’s grandfather supposedly hid there so many years ago. Although it’s Birdie and Bowser who keep the plot zipping along, the unlikely detectives are surrounded by memorable characters both good and bad. And despite the villains, silliness and humor are paramount here, thanks to Bowser’s playful narration.
Utterly charmed by a spunky girl and her charismatic canine, mystery fans will find themselves looking forward to a return to the little bayou town of St. Roch. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: April 28, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-64331-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
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
SEEN & HEARD
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