Only for readers old enough to handle the idea of environmental catastrophe.
What will happen to jellies, orcas, sea turtles, tuna, corals, and blue-green algae in the “New Ocean” of the future?
Opening with the premise that global warming, pollution, acidification, and overfishing are dramatically and permanently changing the ocean—perhaps back to a primal sea—the author then considers the fates of six species, each one discussed in two double-page spreads that pair a substantial column of text on verso to a painting on recto that crosses the gutter. On the first spread, readers find a short description and bulleted facts and then, on the next spread, a column of dire prediction: jellies will flourish, devouring baby fish; orcas are already dying young in poisoned waters and in captivity; turtles are killed by oil-well accidents, litter, and fishing nets; tuna have been overfished and are full of poisonous mercury; coral bleaches and dies in too-warm, acidic, polluted waters; and blue-green algae will also flourish, especially a poisonous one called fireweed. The New Ocean will be oxygen-poor and could cause another mass extinction. These bleak forecasts are accompanied by Barnard’s beautiful oil paintings of sea creatures. His information is not inaccurate; his explanations are clear; the future he envisages is one of many possibilities. On a final spread he offers some suggestions for drastic public measures, personal actions, and an example of a teen invention, not enough to offset the gloomy aftertaste this warning is likely to leave in readers.
Only for readers old enough to handle the idea of environmental catastrophe. (sources, glossary) (Nonfiction. 11-14)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-375-87049-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
A thought-provoking story of one boy playing his own game of life.
An urban Native American boy’s gripping survival story.
In this complex and emotionally resonant novel, Opin lives in a car, enduring unpredictable days as his family struggles. Opin’s mother guides Opin and his brother, Emjay, to live life as a game, even though their battle with being unhoused seems unwinnable. They move constantly to avoid “the cavalry”—or Child Protective Services—as they search for money, food, and a forever home. Opin’s mother insists that he “keep an active mind.” He hunts down science facts and learns all his school subjects from library books. His mother teaches him Ojibwe words from her grandmother’s handwritten notebook. She teaches him reciprocity, only taking what they need to survive, and street smarts. Opin and his new friend, a Black boy from the shelter they move to in Stockton, are attacked by racist teenagers. The storytelling is superlative, but some of the phrases and descriptions—for example, “metal pony” for shopping cart, “buffalo hunt” for stealing food—feel reminiscent of Native tropes, despite seeming to be intended to show Opin’s feelings of connection to his heritage. Some scenes would have benefited from more context: Opin’s mother, who performs her own version of Ojibwe dancing for money, rebuts a passerby’s criticism that she’s “exploiting our dying Native American culture.” Rather than critiquing the framing of Indigenous cultures as “dying,” she says that she’s “reviving our culture.” But do vibrant contemporary Indigenous ways of life need to be revived? Still, Bird seamlessly weaves in historical events, like the government’s distribution of smallpox-infested blankets to kill Native people, while telling a story of admirable resilience.
A thought-provoking story of one boy playing his own game of life. (song list, Ojibwe glossary, author’s note) (Fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9781250877628
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A riveting adventure about an encounter with one of nature’s most formidable manifestations. Beard (The Flimflam Man, 1998, etc.) presents a suspenseful account of Lucille and her brother Natt’s experience during an afternoon tornado; readers will keep turning the pages until the climactic conclusion. Natt and Lucille are left alone in shelter of the cellar during the storm as their mother goes to assist an elderly neighbor. With quiet courage the two face the storm, relying upon each other for moral and physical support. Beard’s lyrical descriptions of Natt and Lucille’s experiences lend a you-are-there immediacy to the tale, while Carpenter’s generously colored artwork vibrates with the intensity of nature unleashed. Turquoise skies quickly turn to dark indigo as the storm approaches. Deep, foreboding grays predominate as Natt and Lucille wait out the storm; with the return of lighter skies and colors, the children emerge from their shelter. A rousing tale. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 10, 1999
ISBN: 0-374-37977-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
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