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SAPPHIRE THE GREAT AND THE MEANING OF LIFE

Passable but flawed.

This slice-of-life Canadian import is more than just another “I want to get a pet” tale.

Nine-year-old Jeannie was promised a hamster, but her father’s recent departure from the family has upset their routines. When she finally gets to the pet store and chooses a white hamster with blue eyes, she names it Harvey Owens, after her father. Meanwhile, Sapphire the hamster just wants to be free. She (yes, unbeknownst to Jeannie, Harvey/Sapphire is a female) escapes several times, but freedom is never what she thinks it will be. With Dad gone, new family friend Anna Conda steps in to help Jeannie’s mother out. A trans woman, Anna helps Jeannie to believe “you are who you are,” assisting Jeannie and her older brother with the background behind their parents’ separation: Their dad has fallen in love with another person, who happens to be a man. Sapphire and Jeannie narrate alternating chapters, and neither is completely aware of all that is going on around them. Sapphire, especially, reports dialogue and action she does not fully understand, adding an additional layer to this tale of understanding difference. Seen through Jeannie’s unquestioning gaze, Anna is a sympathetic, fairly rounded character, but she also comes across as a plot device. Additionally, she concedes to Jeannie’s desire to learn her pre-transition name—a missed opportunity to communicate to young readers this essential point of respect. Jeannie’s family and Anna present white. Sapphire's illustrated guide to hamster care adds a touch of fun.

Passable but flawed. (Fiction. 8-11)

Pub Date: Feb. 22, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-77278-069-7

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Pajama Press

Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018

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KATT VS. DOGG

A waggish tale with a serious (and timely) theme.

An age-old rivalry is reluctantly put aside when two young vacationers are lost in the wilderness.

Anthropomorphic—in body if definitely not behavior—Dogg Scout Oscar and pampered Molly Hissleton stray from their separate camps, meet by chance in a trackless magic forest, and almost immediately recognize that their only chance of survival, distasteful as the notion may be, lies in calling a truce. Patterson and Grabenstein really work the notion here that cooperation is better than prejudice founded on ignorance and habit, interspersing explicit exchanges on the topic while casting the squabbling pair with complementary abilities that come out as they face challenges ranging from finding food to escaping such predators as a mountain lion and a pack of vicious “weaselboars.” By the time they cross a wide river (on a raft steered by “Old Jim,” an otter whose homespun utterances are generally cribbed from Mark Twain—an uneasy reference) back to civilization, the two are BFFs. But can that friendship survive the return, with all the social and familial pressures to resume the old enmity? A climactic cage-match–style confrontation before a worked-up multispecies audience provides the answer. In the illustrations (not seen in finished form) López plops wide-eyed animal heads atop clothed, more or less human forms and adds dialogue balloons for punchlines.

A waggish tale with a serious (and timely) theme. (Fantasy. 9-11)

Pub Date: April 1, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-316-41156-1

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019

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TIGER BOY

A multicultural title with obvious appeal for animal-loving middle graders.

When a Bengali boy finds and saves a tiger cub from a man who wants to sell her on the black market, he realizes that the schoolwork he resents could lead to a career protecting his beloved Sunderbans island home.

When the not-yet-weaned cub escapes from a nearby reserve, Neel and many of his neighbors join the search. But some are in the pay of greedy Gupta, a shady entrepreneur who’s recently settled in their community. Even Neel’s father is tempted by Gupta’s money, although he knows that Gupta doesn’t plan to take the cub back to the refuge. Neel and his sister use the boy’s extensive knowledge of the island’s swampy interior to find the cub’s hiding place and lure it out so it can be returned to its mother. The Kolkota-born author visited the remote Sunderbans in the course of her research. She lovingly depicts this beautiful tropical forest in the context of Neel’s efforts to find the cub and his reluctance to leave his familiar world. While the conflicts resolve a bit too easily, the sense of place is strong and the tiger cub’s rescue very satisfying. Pastel illustrations will help readers envision the story.

A multicultural title with obvious appeal for animal-loving middle graders. (author's note, organizations, glossary) (Fiction. 8-11)

Pub Date: April 14, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-58089-660-3

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Charlesbridge

Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015

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