For good young readers and patient listeners, environmental good news invitingly presented.
In 2011, a wolf collared with a tracking device left his pack in northern Oregon, as young wolves do, and ventured south, becoming the first wolf to enter California since 1924.
In her fictionalization of his travels, Smith alternates OR7's story with that of a young California resident, a Mexican-American girl she calls Abby. Using internet data, Abby tracks the wolf on a map, and she submits a winning name, Journey, in a contest to make the wolf "too famous to harm." (In real life, the backmatter tells us, two children from other states were the contest winners.) The author imagines what Journey senses and thinks along the way. She includes his encounter with a motion-sensor camera, his temporary stay with a pack of coyotes, and his discovery of the young black female, also a wanderer, who became his real-life mate. They’ve settled just north of the border, raised pups, and started a new pack. James’ realistic, finely detailed paintings glory in every hair of the wolves’ fur. Journey’s trek is depicted on double-page spreads; for Abby’s experience, full-page images oppose pages of text, each with a relevant vignette. The backmatter includes an actual photograph. The text and its font size may be challenging for young readers, but the story will appeal.
For good young readers and patient listeners, environmental good news invitingly presented. (timeline, map, further web exploration) (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63217-065-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading.
When Franklin School principal Mr. Boone announces a pet-show fundraiser, white third-grader Cody—whose lack of skill and interest in academics is matched by keen enthusiasm for and knowledge of animals—discovers his time to shine.
As with other books in this series, the children and adults are believable and well-rounded. Even the dialogue is natural—no small feat for a text easily accessible to intermediate readers. Character growth occurs, organically and believably. Students occasionally, humorously, show annoyance with teachers: “He made mad squinty eyes at Mrs. Molina, which fortunately she didn’t see.” Readers will be kept entertained by Cody’s various problems and the eventual solutions. His problems include needing to raise $10 to enter one of his nine pets in the show (he really wants to enter all of them), his troublesome dog Angus—“a dog who ate homework—actually, who ate everything and then threw up afterward”—struggles with homework, and grappling with his best friend’s apparently uncaring behavior toward a squirrel. Serious values and issues are explored with a light touch. The cheery pencil illustrations show the school’s racially diverse population as well as the memorable image of Mr. Boone wearing an elephant costume. A minor oddity: why does a child so immersed in animal facts call his male chicken a rooster but his female chickens chickens?
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-30223-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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