Page chronicles the real events of her family's fishing life from the perspective of her oldest son, Taiga, making him the voice of the first-person narration. Taiga and his brother, Ryland, spend a summer assisting their parents on fishing boats in Alaska, where experience becomes their best teacher. Taiga, by neccessity, must help out, catching and cleaning fish, but the entire day is filled with unique and valuable interactions with the natural world. Taiga's father tells of the time he accidentally hooked a porpoise and was unable to free the thrashing creature; the family dog began to ``sing,'' an act that somehow calmed the porpoise. Taiga is sleeping when the fishing boat gets grounded on a rock, but wakes up in time for an encounter with orcas—killer whales—that surround them. He is scared, but the whales eventually pass by, and the family is unscathed. In this setting, nature is neither cute nor predictable—an attitude that recognizes that humans don't control or even completely fathom the workings of the natural world. Bowman's watercolor scenes exhibit an attention to detail and make these stories ring true, capturing the many moods of a summer spent mostly shipboard. Taiga's adventures combine natural history and good storytelling, and will captivate young listeners if read aloud. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-8075-6137-1
Page Count: 42
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1997
Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81175-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
With wordplay reminiscent of Margie Palatini at her best, Helakoski takes four timorous chickens into, then out of, the literal and figurative woods. Fleeing the henhouse after catching sight of a wolf, the pusillanimous pullets come to a deep ditch: “ ‘What if we can’t jump that far?’ ‘What if we fall in the ditch?’ ‘What if we get sucked into the mud?’ The chickens tutted, putted, and flutted. They butted into themselves and each other, until one by one . . . ” they do fall in. But then they pick themselves up and struggle out. Ensuing encounters with cows and a lake furnish similar responses and outcomes; ultimately they tumble into the wolf’s very cave, where they “picked, pecked, and pocked. They ruffled, puffled, and shuffled. They shrieked, squeaked, and freaked, until . . . ” their nemesis scampers away in panic. Fluttering about in pop-eyed terror, the portly, partly clothed hens make comical figures in Cole’s sunny cartoons (as does the flummoxed wolf)—but the genuine triumph in their final strut—“ ‘I am a big, brave chicken,’ said one chicken. ‘Ohh . . . ’ said the others. ‘Me too.’ ‘Me three.’ ‘Me four’ ”—brings this tribute to chicken power to a rousing close. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-525-47575-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2005
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