This quiet, delightful, and profound story will make young readers feel as warm and fuzzy as the cast members.
A lively bunch of animals discovers new interests in this debut middle-grade novel.
Leon the field mouse doesn’t have many friends. He mostly reads books inside a shed so tiny there’s no room for guests. His pal Ralph the woodchuck suggests they both find other hobbies. So they look for ideas from other animals in the woods, on the Hochmeisters’ farm, and at the pond. For example, Brenda the mourning dove’s favorite hobby is singing, and Harry the toad likes “basking and blinking,” which is apparently much tougher than it sounds. As Leon and Ralph learn about different pastimes, they also make new friends, each one joining them on their excursion. Suddenly, this eclectic group faces a harrowing ordeal. But they may be able to tackle if they stay united. And that field mouse, even if he’s much smaller than the other animals, can lend a helping paw. Segelstein’s simple tale introduces a plethora of four-legged and winged creatures who overflow with personality. This includes redwing blackbird Trevor, who grumbles over his dad’s singing lessons; Fidgit the squirrel and the curious way he sharpens his mind; and Horace, a mutt who lives on the farm and is proud of his impeccable sniffer. The crew faces individual dilemmas, too. Leon sadly writes himself off as “just a field mouse,” and Benny, another woodchuck, struggles with anxiety. Segelstein’s joyful depiction of sharing skills and hobbies will enchant youngsters. The animals, who articulate their feelings and interests and are indisputably stronger when they work together, collectively demonstrate the importance of community. Maliush’s charming illustrations give each animal its due, skillfully rendering, for example, a porcupine’s quills or a redwing blackbird’s markings.
This quiet, delightful, and profound story will make young readers feel as warm and fuzzy as the cast members.Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9798218526917
Page Count: 181
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: July 9, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this...
Sentenced to a brutal juvenile detention camp for a crime he didn't commit, a wimpy teenager turns four generations of bad family luck around in this sunburnt tale of courage, obsession, and buried treasure from Sachar (Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, 1995, etc.).
Driven mad by the murder of her black beau, a schoolteacher turns on the once-friendly, verdant town of Green Lake, Texas, becomes feared bandit Kissin' Kate Barlow, and dies, laughing, without revealing where she buried her stash. A century of rainless years later, lake and town are memories—but, with the involuntary help of gangs of juvenile offenders, the last descendant of the last residents is still digging. Enter Stanley Yelnats IV, great-grandson of one of Kissin' Kate's victims and the latest to fall to the family curse of being in the wrong place at the wrong time; under the direction of The Warden, a woman with rattlesnake venom polish on her long nails, Stanley and each of his fellow inmates dig a hole a day in the rock-hard lake bed. Weeks of punishing labor later, Stanley digs up a clue, but is canny enough to conceal the information of which hole it came from. Through flashbacks, Sachar weaves a complex net of hidden relationships and well-timed revelations as he puts his slightly larger-than-life characters under a sun so punishing that readers will be reaching for water bottles.
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this rugged, engrossing adventure. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 978-0-374-33265-5
Page Count: 233
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2000
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