by Isobelle Carmody ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 24, 2006
The first of a proposed quartet introduces Little Fur, an elf troll, tall as a three-year-old child with “slanted green eyes, wild red hair that brambled about her pointed ears and bare, broad, four-toed feet.” Little Fur lives in a wilderness protected by seven ancient trees known as the Old Ones set in the middle of a modern human city. A healer who tends the Old Ones, Little Fur embarks on a quest to save the trees from rogue human tree-burners and to thwart the Troll King’s plot to kill the earth spirit. Armed with her bag of seeds and herbs, Little Fur journeys by night with her animal helpers to find the tree guardian who sleeps in a deep earth crack. Earth-wise and stalwart, Little Fur uses her healing powers to fend off perils of the human world and prove that “sometimes small things could do what greater creatures could not.” This wee eco-fantasy heroine, with her green message, will win the hearts of young environmentalists. (Fantasy. 8-11)
Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2006
ISBN: 0-375-83854-6
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2006
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by Isobelle Carmody & illustrated by Declan Lee
by Rosanne Parry illustrated by Lindsay Moore ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2020
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale.
After a tsunami devastates their habitat in the Salish Sea, a young orca and her brother embark on a remarkable adventure.
Vega’s matriarchal family expects her to become a hunter and wayfinder, with her younger brother, Deneb, protecting and supporting her. Invited to guide her family to their Gathering Place to hunt salmon, Vega’s underwater miscalculations endanger them all, and an embarrassed Vega questions whether she should be a wayfinder. When the baby sister she hoped would become her life companion is stillborn, a distraught Vega carries the baby away to a special resting place, shocking her grieving family. Dispatched to find his missing sister, Deneb locates Vega in the midst of a terrible tsunami. To escape the waters polluted by shattered boats, Vega leads Deneb into unfamiliar open sea. Alone and hungry, the young siblings encounter a spectacular giant whale and travel briefly with shark-hunting orcas. Trusting her instincts and gaining emotional strength from contemplating the vastness of the sky, Vega knows she must lead her brother home and help save her surviving family. In alternating first-person voices, Vega and Deneb tell their harrowing story, engaging young readers while educating them about the marine ecosystem. Realistic black-and-white illustrations enhance the maritime setting.
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale. (maps, wildlife facts, tribes of the Salish Sea watershed, environmental and geographical information, how to help orcas, author’s note, artist’s note, resources) (Animal fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-299592-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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by Rosanne Parry ; illustrated by Kirbi Fagan
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by Rosanne Parry ; illustrated by Niki Stage
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by Rosanne Parry ; illustrated by Mónica Armiño
by Joy Cowley ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1999
Bishop’s spectacular photographs of the tiny red-eyed tree frog defeat an incidental text from Cowley (Singing Down the Rain, 1997, etc.). The frog, only two inches long, is enormous in this title; it appears along with other nocturnal residents of the rain forests of Central America, including the iguana, ant, katydid, caterpillar, and moth. In a final section, Cowley explains how small the frog is and aspects of its life cycle. The main text, however, is an afterthought to dramatic events in the photos, e.g., “But the red-eyed tree frog has been asleep all day. It wakes up hungry. What will it eat? Here is an iguana. Frogs do not eat iguanas.” Accompanying an astonishing photograph of the tree frog leaping away from a boa snake are three lines (“The snake flicks its tongue. It tastes frog in the air. Look out, frog!”) that neither advance nor complement the action. The layout employs pale and deep green pages and typeface, and large jewel-like photographs in which green and red dominate. The combination of such visually sophisticated pages and simplistic captions make this a top-heavy, unsatisfying title. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-590-87175-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
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by Joy Cowley ; illustrated by Giselle Clarkson
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by Joy Cowley ; illustrated by Kimberly Andrews
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by Hye-Eun Shin ; illustrated by Su-Bi Jeong ; edited by Joy Cowley
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