Frank history, attention to factual detail, and vivid adventures make this a standout.
Magellan’s 16th-century circumnavigation of the globe is told through the eyes of a ship’s dog in this latest installment of the middle-grade Dog Chronicles.
Originally unnamed, just prodded to catch rats on sailing ships, the dog Leo is wary of humans and resolutely a loner. Then he meets Marco, an orphaned Spanish boy who has stowed away on the Trinidad, Magellan’s flagship, as Magellan begins his historic voyage to find a westward passage to the Spice Islands (now the Malukas, in modern-day Indonesia). It is Marco and Pigafetta, an Italian scribe who is aboard to chronicle the voyage, who name Leo after the dog saves Marco’s life. Remarkably rich in factual details, Hart’s accomplished narrative, told in first-person present-tense by Leo, animates the hardships endured—and courage needed—to sail into the literal unknown, threading them throughout Leo’s personal journey of learning to trust. Montgomery’s spot pencil illustrations enliven the narrative. Of particular note, Magellan’s cruelty, arrogance, and thirst for glory are not whitewashed, as Leo describes him ordering the destruction of indigenous villages because they refuse to convert to Christianity or swear allegiance to King Charles of Spain. A lengthy author’s note gives the facts behind the story and is vividly interesting in itself as a chronicle of 16th-century European knowledge and shipboard life.
Frank history, attention to factual detail, and vivid adventures make this a standout. (bibliography, further reading.) (Historical fiction. 7-12)Pub Date: April 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-56145-964-3
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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