A quiet winner for animal lovers and fans of realistic fiction.
A girl’s telepathic connection to a stray dog helps her process change.
Fifth grader Sadie Mitchell-Rosen is feeling frustrated. Her best friend has moved away, she and her brother can’t get along, and her moms are trying to hide her grandfather’s worsening dementia from her. She doesn’t know how to feel about the new IEP for her processing disorder, which sometimes makes focusing difficult. But everything changes when she discovers an injured dog named Dewey in the woods. They are able to communicate telepathically, and Sadie learns from Dewey that she has one week to be claimed by her owners from the kennel at Sadie’s Mom’s vet clinic before being euthanized for aggression. Making it her mission to rescue Dewey, Sadie recruits her Gramps, who has just moved in with her family, and a classmate she used to dislike. While there are plenty of bumps along the way, the happy, hopeful ending is satisfying. Sadie’s first-person narration balances action and introspection, creating a thoughtful exploration of interpersonal relationships and what it means to do right by others and ourselves. Sadie and Dewey’s telepathic connection is never explained or deeply explored, but readers who feel profound bonds with their pets won’t be bothered by this. Sadie’s family is described by skin tone: Mama reads as White, Mom has dark-brown skin, and Sadie’s and her brother’s complexions are somewhere in between.
A quiet winner for animal lovers and fans of realistic fiction. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-20491-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
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
Quirky and imaginative—postmodern storytelling at its best.
Friendly curiosity and a gift for naming earn a polar bear an assortment of (mostly animal) friends, adventures, mishaps, and discoveries.
Arriving at a northern ocean, Duane spies a shipwreck. Swimming out to investigate, he meets its lone occupant, C.C., a learned snowy owl whose noble goal is acquiring knowledge to apply “toward the benefit of all.” Informing Duane that he’s a polar bear, she points out a nearby cave that might suit him—it even has a mattress. Adding furnishings from the wreck—the grandfather clock’s handless, but who needs to tell time when it’s always now?—he meets a self-involved musk ox, entranced by his own reflection, who’s delighted when Duane names him “Handsome.” As he comes to understand, then appreciate their considerable diversity, Duane brings out the best in his new friends. C.C., who has difficulty reading emotions and dislikes being touched, evokes the autism spectrum. Magic, a bouncy, impulsive arctic fox, manifests ADHD. Major Puff, whose proud puffin ancestry involves courageous retreats from danger, finds a perfect companion in Twitch, a risk-aware, common-sensical hare. As illustrated, Sun Girl, a human child, appears vaguely Native, and Squint, a painter, white, but they’re sui generis: The Canadian author avoids referencing human culture. The art conveys warmth in an icy setting; animal characters suggest beloved stuffed toys, gently reinforcing the message that friendship founded on tolerance breeds comfort and safety.
Quirky and imaginative—postmodern storytelling at its best. (Animal fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-3341-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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