A relatable canine protagonist, mild action, and a well-crafted message of compassionate animal advocacy.
A shelter dog takes matters into her own paws and finds the perfect home.
In this illustrated book for grade-school readers by photographer, writer, and animal advocate Blake, a German shepherd pup, the smallest in her litter, yearns for a loving home. But for one reason or another, her adoptions from a Florida shelter keep falling through, earning her the name Gypsy from shelter caretakers “since she couldn’t seem to settle in one place.” (A side note: The author’s well-meaning usage of gypsy here is clear; however, the word has increasingly been dropped from public usage due to its historic application as a pejorative for the Roma people.) When Gypsy is finally adopted, the circumstances are unhappy. She is tied up outside in the hot sun all day, an unloved watchdog. Gypsy escapes, ending up on an ocean pier where anglers dock their boats. A young man named Charlie spots the hungry pup, and before giving her a sandwich, offers his hand to sniff. Gypsy’s reaction is one of several simple, evocative passages that deepen the narrative: “He had a nice smell. It was clean and honest, like the sea.” Gypsy later repays Charlie’s kindness. Between two nicely calibrated action sequences, the author underscores Charlie’s compassionate nature when, during Gypsy’s first boat ride, he gently calms her initial anxiety, letting her know that she can trust him to keep her safe. When Charlie anchors the boat at an island, readers are offered a memorable word picture of “twisted roots of mangrove trees spread into the water, like the fingers of ancient wizards.” The author’s scene-setting and clearly defined characters are adeptly reflected in colorful images by veteran children’s author/illustrator Dey, with the appealing rendering of the German shepherd pup at their center.
A relatable canine protagonist, mild action, and a well-crafted message of compassionate animal advocacy.Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-57-886306-1
Page Count: 38
Publisher: Malakie Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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