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. 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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Cooler-than-cool newcomer Styx Malone takes the more-sheltered brothers Caleb and Bobby Gene on a mischievous, path-altering, summer adventure of a lifetime as they embrace the extraordinary possibilities beyond the everyday in rural Indiana.
Readers may think an adventure such as they’ll find here wouldn’t be possible in the present day; this story takes place outside, where nature, know-how, creativity, and curiosity rule. Creeks, dirt roads, buried treasures, and more make up the landscape in Sutton, Indiana. Younger brother Caleb narrates, letting readers know from the outset that he’s tired of his dad’s racially tinged determination that they be safely ordinary: “I don’t want to be ordinary. I want to be…the other thing.” With Styx Malone around, Caleb and Bobby Gene will sure figure out what that “other thing” can become. The three black adolescents are enchanted with the miracle of the Great Escalator Trade, the mythic one-thing-leads-to-another bartering scheme that just might get them farther from Sutton than they’ve ever dreamed. As they get deeper and deeper into cahoots with Styx, they begin to notice that Styx harbors some secret ambitions of his own, further twisting this grand summer journey. “How do you move through the world knowing that you’re special, when no one else can see it?” begs the soul of this novel.
Heartening and hopeful, a love letter to black male youth grasping the desires within them, absorbing the worlds around them, striving to be more otherwise than ordinary. Please share. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1595-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Utterly believable, this bittersweet story, complete with an author’s note identifying the real Ivan, will inspire a new...
14
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How Ivan confronts his harrowing past yet stays true to his nature exemplifies everything youngsters need to know about courage.
Living in a "domain" of glass, metal and cement at the Big Top Mall, Ivan sometimes forgets whether to act like a gorilla or a human—except Ivan does not think much of humans. He describes their behavior as frantic, whereas he is a peaceful artist. Fittingly, Ivan narrates his tale in short, image-rich sentences and acute, sometimes humorous, observations that are all the more heartbreaking for their simple delivery. His sorrow is palpable, but he stoically endures the cruelty of humans until Ruby the baby elephant is abused. In a pivotal scene, Ivan finally admits his domain is a cage, and rather than let Ruby live and die in grim circumstances, he promises to save her. In order to express his plea in a painting, Ivan must bravely face buried memories of the lush jungle, his family and their brutal murder, which is recounted in a brief, powerful chapter sure to arouse readers’ passions. In a compelling ending, the more challenging question Applegate poses is whether or not Ivan will remember what it was like to be a gorilla. Spot art captures poignant moments throughout.
Utterly believable, this bittersweet story, complete with an author’s note identifying the real Ivan, will inspire a new generation of advocates. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-199225-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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