A pointed fantasy tale with an original plot and a headstrong hedgehog.
In Roshni’s debut children’s novel, a risk-averse young hedgehog finds herself in the notorious Furrow, a highly organized small animal community filled with deceit and danger.
Heed, a hedgehog, is content to spend her days in the peaceful, predictable meadow. On her way home one evening, she passes a baby squirrel and hears an ominous swish from above; quickly, Heed wraps her body around the infant, protecting them both from a hungry owl with her sharp quills. After a feast with the squirrels in her honor, Heed accidentally slips down the tree and into the flooding river below. A trio of young hamsters secretly spirits her back to their home in the Furrow, an intricate maze of tunnels and caves that houses a collection of colonies, filled with hedgehog predators and prey. When the head Furrer, a fierce badger, discovers that Heed, a stranger, is in the Furrow, he makes sure that all involved face severe consequences. The hedgehog encounters jackals, owls, and a history of deception as she battles to return to her family and beloved meadow. Roshni uses anthropomorphism, a compelling plot, and strong character development to lure tween readers into this animal saga. The story moves quickly at a consistent pace, and readers will cheer Heed on as the young hedgehog takes risks, finds her voice, and decides whom to trust; many will also relate to how she discovers her untapped courage. A strong balance of description and dialogue effectively details the various environments and characters. However, although the Furrow makes for an intriguing, layered setting, the specific mix of animals there feels unnatural, due to their real-life habitat needs. Still, the novel’s deep storytelling features elements that call to mind classic animal-centered series, such as Brian Jacques’ Redwall books, and sets up questions for future series installments.
A pointed fantasy tale with an original plot and a headstrong hedgehog.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride.
Zipping back and forth in time atop outsized robo–bell bottoms, mad inventor Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) legs his way to center stage in this slightly less-labored continuation of episode 9.
The action commences after a rambling recap and a warning not to laugh or smile on pain of being forced to read Sarah Plain and Tall. Pilkey first sends his peevish protagonist back a short while to save the Earth (destroyed in the previous episode), then on to various prehistoric eras in pursuit of George, Harold and the Captain. It’s all pretty much an excuse for many butt jokes, dashes of off-color humor (“Tippy pressed the button on his Freezy-Beam 4000, causing it to rise from the depths of his Robo-Pants”), a lengthy wordless comic and two tussles in “Flip-o-rama.” Still, the chase kicks off an ice age, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the Big Bang (here the Big “Ka-Bloosh!”). It ends with a harrowing glimpse of what George and Harold would become if they decided to go straight. The author also chucks in a poopy-doo-doo song with musical notation (credited to Albert P. Einstein) and plenty of ink-and-wash cartoon illustrations to crank up the ongoing frenzy.
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-17536-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
Entrancing and uplifting.
A small dog, the elderly woman who owns him, and a homeless girl come together to create a tale of serendipity.
Piper, almost 12, her parents, and her younger brother are at the bottom of a long slide toward homelessness. Finally in a family shelter, Piper finds that her newfound safety gives her the opportunity to reach out to someone who needs help even more. Jewel, mentally ill, lives in the park with her dog, Baby. Unwilling to leave her pet, and forbidden to enter the shelter with him, she struggles with the winter weather. Ree, also homeless and with a large dog, helps when she can, but after Jewel gets sick and is hospitalized, Baby’s taken to the animal shelter, and Ree can’t manage the complex issues alone. It’s Piper, using her best investigative skills, who figures out Jewel’s backstory. Still, she needs all the help of the shelter Firefly Girls troop that she joins to achieve her accomplishment: to raise enough money to provide Jewel and Baby with a secure, hopeful future and, maybe, with their kindness, to inspire a happier story for Ree. Told in the authentic alternating voices of loving child and loyal dog, this tale could easily slump into a syrupy melodrama, but Pyron lets her well-drawn characters earn their believable happy ending, step by challenging step, by reaching out and working together. Piper, her family, and Jewel present white; Pyron uses hair and naming convention, respectively, to cue Ree as black and Piper’s friend Gabriela as Latinx.
Entrancing and uplifting. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-283922-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
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