A serene tale about a low-danger animal rescue featuring an adventurous and ambitious female protagonist.
A young ground squirrel helps an injured goose form an unlikely friendship in Henney’s revised edition of a 1993 picture book, with new illustrations by Klose.
Tac and Tuk, two ground squirrels, are cousins and best friends despite their differences. Adventurous Tac longs to travel far away from their colony in Texas to see the Rocky Mountains. Tuk prefers their home and takes his job as lookout for their colony very seriously. When Tac confesses her dreams of travel to Tuk, her cousin just laughs: “That’s silly,” he tells her. “The Rocky Mountains are on the other side of the world!” Frustrated that he doesn’t understand, Tac wanders off and discovers a goose caught in the plastic loops from a six-pack. Unable to leave the poor bird suffering, Tac hurries back to the colony, enlisting the other ground squirrels to help the goose; in the process, she earns herself a friend who might be able to help her realize her dream of traveling. There’s very little conflict here, despite the setup: Tac and Tuk’s friendship seems poised for tension due to their different dreams, but when Tac befriends the goose, Bettina Bird, Tuk joins Tac in visiting Bettina while she recovers. As the story ends, Tac is looking forward to future adventures beyond her own colony, but readers may feel let down by an expectation that her real adventure is left for a future installment. Vocabulary is appropriate for independent readers in early- to mid-elementary school, though the text is quite dense, even on pages with illustrations. Klose’s illustrations, half in color, half in black and white, are delightful, from Tuk’s proud poise above the colony to Tac’s silly pink ribbon around her head. The details are charming, such as one ground squirrel playfully hanging off a breaking reed while trying to help the injured goose.
A serene tale about a low-danger animal rescue featuring an adventurous and ambitious female protagonist.Pub Date: July 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5120-1427-3
Page Count: 28
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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BOOK REVIEW
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