A cheerful horsey story with a dash of mystery.
The 11th installment of a British series featuring animal lover Jasmine.
School has just finished for the year when, the night after a big thunderstorm, Jasmine finds a wounded baby horse in one of the fields on her family farm. Jasmine and her best friend, Tom, use Jasmine's donkey, Mistletoe, to lure the foal into a pen so that Jasmine's mom, a vet, can treat his leg. Jasmine wants nothing more than to keep the foal, but she knows it belongs with its mother. With Tom’s help, she works to find the foal’s owner and solve the mystery of how it got to her family’s farm. Like the previous titles in the series, this book combines adventure with sound, age-appropriate information about how to care for and work with animals; however, the side plot involving a pair of rabbits and Jasmine's stereotyped and misogynistic great aunt feels contrived. That Jasmine is biracial is conveyed through the illustrations (Jasmine has brown skin, while her mom’s skin is comparatively darker, and her dad is White) and by her mother's surname: Singh. Black-and-white illustrations that appear every few pages, along with the relatively large font size and careful pacing, will make this story appealing to readers just moving on from beginner chapter books.
A cheerful horsey story with a dash of mystery. (Fiction/chapter book. 6-9)Pub Date: April 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-2271-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
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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