by Joan M. Maredyth ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 10, 2012
Well-developed, moving book about the importance of caring for people and animals.
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Five pit bull puppies seek new friends and new homes in the Sonoran desert of Arizona.
After their mother disappears from the junkyard where they live, five pit-bull-mix puppies are forced to fend for themselves. One by one, they find new people, new animals and new places to call home, all against the backdrop of the Sonoran desert in Arizona, where life isn’t easy for people or dogs. For every person struggling with poverty, alcoholism and abuse, there are also those who do the abusing themselves, and negligence is rampant. Pit bulls in particular have it rough: People are often afraid of them or want to use them as fighters. The puppies meet many people in their journeys: would-be helpers, animal lovers who help from afar, irresponsible owners who abandon their pets and those who mean to hurt them. The author shows how people can be negligent without being evil and how truly caring and compassionate people respond to difficulty. The specter of dogfighting hangs over the entire story. As the pups meet and interact with different people, their unique personalities and stories emerge, along with the back stories of the characters they meet. All are extremely well-written; humans and canines alike have clear personalities with well-developed characteristics. This is obviously a book with a message about love and friendship—especially about pit bull rescue and the importance of providing good homes for dogs—but the message works with the narrative, never against it. The pace is good, as well: As the relationships of the dogs and people around them develop and intertwine, everything moves steadily toward the event that changes everything.
Well-developed, moving book about the importance of caring for people and animals.Pub Date: July 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-1466309470
Page Count: 276
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Susie Pi and Vincent Pi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 28, 2018
A simple ABC book whose vibrant photographs will grab kids’ attention.
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Debut authors Pi and Pi offer a debut picture-book alphabet of occupations, featuring photos of children playing dress-up.
Each of the 26 pages of this book features a photo, with illustrated details, of a child in the midst of a game of dress-up and imagination. The first shows a cheerful girl, costumed as a doctor, imagining, “What can I be today?” For “A,” a young artist paints on an easel; then, in a transition sentence, she decides to do ballet. The next page shows a ballerina who, when she gets hungry, visits a chef—and so on. Most transitions make sense, and the photos of children with occupation props, set against mostly white backgrounds, offer plenty of smiles. The simple sentences make this book easy to read aloud to its early childhood target audience. However, a few job titles may be a stretch for them to understand, such as “geologist,” “horticulturalist,” and “optician.” The jobs are varied and include artistic positions (illustrator, knitter, musician), service professions (firefighter, judge, librarian, soldier), and science jobs (engineer, X-ray technician). Surprisingly, the only sports-related position is an umpire, but a leading question at the end, about other jobs that one may discover, leaves room for young listeners to create their own.
A simple ABC book whose vibrant photographs will grab kids’ attention.Pub Date: Dec. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4808-5453-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Kate Lee Diehl illustrated by Kathryn Dimenichi John Powell ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2015
Poems and images that ask readers to appreciate a searching body for its beauty and grace.
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Diehl’s debut poetry collection showcases the arduous search for human connection and self-understanding.
In free verse poems that combine strong metaphors with prosaic passages, the poet wanders along a lifelong path of self-knowledge. She first describes it as a “pilgrimage…to accept what’s been deemed unworthy inside us,” and the trail leads to important insights. In a plainly stated yet necessary reminder, the author asserts that being human, despite the loneliness one may encounter, “is not a solitary pursuit.” Above all else, the book voices a desire for transparency in the self and in others. In “Clear Stream,” moving water illuminates objects within it, even as mystery waits at the bottom, and the water’s clarity corresponds to the speaker’s offering of his- or herself to view: “Here I am. // Come see me if you want.” Sometimes the tumble of words in these short stanzas suggests a pouring forth of injury: “It’s the show-stopping blow of loss upending a heart pain over pain till capacity for love regulates its beating.” Readers will understand a back story involving love and loss, difficulty in communication, sadness, and acceptance of children growing up. The poems gain strength from well-chosen accompanying images, including sketches and paintings by Dimenichi and colorful works by Jamaican-born painter Powell that enrich the verbal landscape. Several full-page images by each artist appear, suggesting a thematic connection or amplifying an emotion in a given poem. A richly textured, grand illustration of a tree by Dimenichi, for example, appears alongside a poem that celebrates the inspiration of such towering entities. A poem concerned with self-reflection joins a Powell painting of floating, twinned female forms. The figures seem to both depict and satisfy the speaker’s need to be seen, with their emphasis on mirror images, body doubles, and echoes of shapes. Even the windshield of a car can be a “two way mirror” behind which the driver is “invisible to life outside.” An explicitly female body is glimpsed in the sketches, and the warm, dreamlike compositions give it substance.
Poems and images that ask readers to appreciate a searching body for its beauty and grace.Pub Date: July 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-304-13091-4
Page Count: 58
Publisher: Lulu
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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