A pleasant and informative, if sometimes messy, read about ecological responsibility.
In this middle-grade adventure, three diverse teens fight to save endangered animals.
Aisyah Muti, Kirri King, and Hector Alvarez live in different places around the world but share two important things: their love for endangered creatures and the environmental fires that changed their lives. Sixteen-year-old Aisyah toils on a palm oil plantation in Sumatra, Indonesia—until a forest fire leaves her with devastating injuries and permanent scars. Aisyah is rescued by an orangutan named Pongo, whom the teen saved as a baby and who now has an infant of her own. Their bond leads Aisyah to leave the plantation and work with her father at a wildlife rescue facility. In western Australia, Indigenous teen Kirri is a dedicated runner with big dreams. But when her ultramarathon is interrupted by a devastating fire, she focuses her energy on nurturing a baby wallaby she calls Bultarro (the Aboriginal name for wallaby), who has her own challenges. Meanwhile in Northern California, Hector is an enthusiastic member of his school’s Youth Audubon Club who, with the help of his teachers, is training a hawk called Swain to hunt until a deadly wildfire leaves the teen with physical limitations. When Hector finds Aisyah and Kirri in an online support group, the three immediately grow close—but as they will soon learn, not everyone has the best of intentions when it comes to their beloved animals. Datnow, a former creative writing teacher and native of South Africa, demonstrates her passion for ecology on every page through descriptions of creature care and feeding, maps of each area featured in the story, and uncredited photographs. A guide at the end of the book points interested readers toward more resources from NASA and Cornell University as well as the United States government. The tale is educational but not condescending to its middle-grade audience, though at times the characters act younger than teenagers, with spontaneous and childish outbursts. Additionally, the author uses outdated terms for disabilities, and there is a sudden change of perspective (third person to first person) without warning or explanation.
A pleasant and informative, if sometimes messy, read about ecological responsibility.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-99-694469-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Media Mint Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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