The newest volume in the Poetry for Young People series continues the format; Hollander gathers 34 short selections on a common theme—here, real animals, as opposed to the imaginary sort—and prefaces each with cogent comments on the poet and on images or references in the poem that might be unfamiliar to young readers. His choices range from such chestnuts as Lear’s “Owl and the Pussy-cat” and Blake’s “The Tyger” to Wallace Stevens’s “Earthy Anecdote,” verses from Marianne Moore to a chameleon, May Swenson on tourists viewing bison, and, to close, a lyrical, 900-year-old fragmentary lullaby from Greek poet Alcman. Mulazzani poses animatedly the creatures in her painted illustrations, against simplified natural backgrounds, and aside from misrepresenting the titular feline in Yeats’s “Cat and the Moon” as tiger-striped, sticks to literal interpretations. Despite notably inconsistent page design that even has the text of one poem (William Carlos Williams’s “Gulls”) switching from black to white in mid-course, this, like its predecessors, will help readers at least begin to understand what poetry is all about, without waxing too intrusively pedantic. (Poetry. 10+)
Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2005
ISBN: 1-4027-0926-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2004
Clears the bar for horse fanciers.
Seventh grader Abby St. Clair manages friend drama and competition at school and on her riding team in the lead-up to a big horse show.
In this third series entry (which readers can jump into midstride), Abby sees winning the upcoming horse show at Canterwood Crest Academy in Connecticut as a big step toward her goal of becoming a career equestrian. But conflict with her teammates poses more of an obstacle than her riding skills do. Abby and her enemies on the team, Nina and Selly, had a fight at the last competition and are being closely monitored by their coach, Rebecca. On top of that, Abby’s best friends, Thea and Vivi (established in earlier entries as Korean American and Black, respectively), seem to be excluding her. Abby also initially bungles how she handles her crush on new girl Mila. At least she’s made up with her stepsister, Emery. At Canterwood, Abby meets Sasha Silver, one of her heroes, whose winter riding clinic she applied for—but Sasha reveals that someone tried to sabotage her application. Abby’s team experiences more surprises during the event, setting things up for the next entry. Parents are mostly absent from the narrative; Abby talks to her dad via FaceTime. The dialogue and social media use are realistic, the pacing is snappy, and the equestrian details are accurate. Most characters read white.
Clears the bar for horse fanciers. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781665912990
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
A charming series opener.
A foundling mouse sets out to uncover the mystery of her origins and of the magical needle sized for humans that was left with her.
Delphine’s travels begin with a summons to the palace, where her growing reputation as a brilliant seamstress commands an order for a ball gown for Princess Petits-Oiseaux—and also gives her a chance to discover exciting hints about a vanished order of needle-wielding magic mice known as the Threaded and of an ancient war with the rats. Meanwhile, no sooner does Midnight, cruel king of the rats, learn that the needle they have been seeking for a century has been found than said old war suddenly heats up and turns into a deadly chase. Also meanwhile, only barely noticed by the animal cast but sure to snag readers’ attention, certain events involving another seamstress, a pumpkin coach, a ball, a prince, and a glass slipper are happening above the floorboards in the parallel human world. That isn’t the only sly touch in this bibbidi bobbidi debut, which is rich in clearly delineated character types, features plenty of brisk action, and is also, overall, more than a bit reminiscent in tone and setting to Brian Jacques’ Redwall series (though with more focus on fashion than food). While this volume is mostly setup, heroes and villains alike end up on their marks, and plenty of loose ends remain to stitch up later.
A charming series opener. (Animal fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-368-04802-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
