A coming-of-age tale told with tenderness and compassion.
A summer visit to Maine provides adventure and challenges for 11-year-old Mia.
Mia worries about the many changes in her life and sees worst-case scenarios at every juncture. She must share her divorced parents with their new partners, but this summer Mia will be alone with her beloved grandmother. But there are new presences in Grandma’s life—mysterious stray cat Miss Agatha and new neighbor Cayman, a boy Mia’s age. Grandma encourages Cayman to show bird lover Mia an eagle nest. While watching the eagles, Mia and Cayman spot a large white bird swooping in, attacking the eagles, and Mia manages to take photos of it on her phone. Wanting to identify it before Cayman does, she posts to a birders’ site. The members recognize it as a white gyrfalcon. When Mia naïvely tells them her location, it sets in motion a series of nearly disastrous events, as the town is inundated with people determined to spot the rare bird. Cayman is dealing with his own worries about his mom, and his relationship with Mia is strained to the breaking point. Mia tells her own story, sharing her hurts, fears, misconceptions, and realizations and beautifully describing the nature around her. She learns to reach out for help in order to help make things right for the birds she has come to love, for Cayman and his mom, and even for Miss Agatha, discovering her own courage along the way.
A coming-of-age tale told with tenderness and compassion. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 18, 2023
ISBN: 9781338726114
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Utterly believable, this bittersweet story, complete with an author’s note identifying the real Ivan, will inspire a new...
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. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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