An extraordinarily moving, powerful tale about the resilience of grace and the joy of friendship.
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Stuffed animals search for a long-lost friend in this debut literary fantasy for all ages.
The three inhabitants of well-appointed apartment 1K on New York City’s Upper West Side enjoy a fulfilling life of work, walks in the park, good food, and warm friendships. It’s a setup as cozy as themselves—all stuffed animals or, as they call themselves, wawas. Mr. Rabbit is an artist; Benny the Bunny is a writer; and Dr. Ursa, a bear, has a medical practice. One day, their comfortable routine is upended when Custerd, a “shockingly orange” cat wawa and a childhood friend of Benny’s, makes an unexpected visit. Though usually a bouncing, confident sort, Custerd has been feeling empty lately. His therapist believes he must search for Rogo, his and Benny’s stuffed lion companion from the old days, who went missing 25 years ago in Australia. Mr. Rabbit, Benny, and Custerd head for Sydney, where they learn that after becoming separated from his boy, Rogo went on a walkabout (or, as kangaroos call it, a “hop-about”). With some Australian wawa companions, the friends’ hunt for Rogo brings them to a mysterious, forbidding fortress in the Outback that will test their courage, love, and ingenuity. Colin Krainin achieves something remarkable in his accomplished and poignant novel, giving a profound emotional and spiritual range to his stuffed-animal characters. They’re undeniably cuddly, appealing, and kind yet acutely aware of loss, which in turn is tempered: “But shining through the melancholy there often came, as sudden as the first aching sprouts of spring, a kind of grace.” Similarly, Custerd understands human evil as the desperate, dangerous refusal to be vulnerable. Debut illustrator Joan Platek Krainin’s charming pencil drawings capture the wawas’ cuteness but less so their pathos.
An extraordinarily moving, powerful tale about the resilience of grace and the joy of friendship.Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2020
ISBN: 979-8-691066-90-0
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Crowell Creek Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
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Utterly believable, this bittersweet story, complete with an author’s note identifying the real Ivan, will inspire a new...
14
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How Ivan confronts his harrowing past yet stays true to his nature exemplifies everything youngsters need to know about courage.
Living in a "domain" of glass, metal and cement at the Big Top Mall, Ivan sometimes forgets whether to act like a gorilla or a human—except Ivan does not think much of humans. He describes their behavior as frantic, whereas he is a peaceful artist. Fittingly, Ivan narrates his tale in short, image-rich sentences and acute, sometimes humorous, observations that are all the more heartbreaking for their simple delivery. His sorrow is palpable, but he stoically endures the cruelty of humans until Ruby the baby elephant is abused. In a pivotal scene, Ivan finally admits his domain is a cage, and rather than let Ruby live and die in grim circumstances, he promises to save her. In order to express his plea in a painting, Ivan must bravely face buried memories of the lush jungle, his family and their brutal murder, which is recounted in a brief, powerful chapter sure to arouse readers’ passions. In a compelling ending, the more challenging question Applegate poses is whether or not Ivan will remember what it was like to be a gorilla. Spot art captures poignant moments throughout.
Utterly believable, this bittersweet story, complete with an author’s note identifying the real Ivan, will inspire a new generation of advocates. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-199225-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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