by Celesta Rimington ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 19, 2020
A bittersweet ending completes the story’s magic and mystery.
An orphan girl discovers her true identity with the help of a ghost, an elephant, and the wind.
Seven years ago, an approximately 5-year-old white girl was found by an employee in the Omaha zoo’s elephant habitat following a tornado. After efforts to locate her family led nowhere, the zoo employee, a white man named Roger, called the girl Lexington after the zoo and became her guardian. Rimington sets this poignant novel when Lex and Roger figure she is 12. Refusing to go to public school, Lex remains mostly isolated at the zoo, much like her favorite character, Karana, from Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins (1960). Readers familiar with this Newbery winner will notice many interesting parallels between the orphaned girls. Lex’s day-to-day activities consist of her routine with Roger; hanging out with best friend and fellow zoo resident Fisher, a boy with mixed Thai and white heritage; communing with Nyah, the elephant who saved her the night of the tornado; and listening to the wind. These latter fantastical elements come into the fore when Lexington begins seeing Miss Amanda, the “misplaced spirit” (please, don’t call her “ghost”) of a Southern white woman who has lost some treasure. Soon, an already engaging tale of life at a zoo turns into a mystery, with Lex and Fisher’s efforts not only to locate Miss Amanda’s treasure, but also to recover Lex’s identity in the process. The book adheres to the white default.
A bittersweet ending completes the story’s magic and mystery. (author’s note) (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-12122-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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by Peter Brown ; illustrated by Peter Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 2023
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
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by Aaron Reynolds ; illustrated by Peter Brown
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by Peter Brown ; illustrated by Peter Brown
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by Peter Brown ; illustrated by Peter Brown
by E.B. White illustrated by Garth Williams ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 1952
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
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by E.B. White & illustrated by Maggie Kneen
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by E.B. White illustrated by Fred Marcellino
BOOK REVIEW
by E.B. White illustrated by Garth Williams
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