A diverting mix of animal fantasy and time travel.
Two strange creatures turn up in Gilly’s bog during a blizzard, very far from their homes.
Gilly, short for Gilligan, narrates this broadly comic time-travel escapade involving residents of the bog in the Twin Cities’ Theodore Wirth Park. Gilly is a wryly observant possum who, as assistant to the raccoon Mayor Crawdaddy, gets tasked with things that are too difficult or taxing for the mayor to take on. In other words, just about anything. When a young woolly mammoth from 10,000 years in the past and a park ranger robot from an equally distant future turn up in the midst of the snowstorm, Gilly and the mayor, along with Gilly’s human friend, Ruth, and an ambitious red squirrel, the Earl of Sussex, team up to find the temporal vortex before it closes. Twigs, the somewhat petulant woolly mammoth, seems to be hiding a secret that makes him reluctant to return home, and the slightly damaged Smokey 3000 Park Ranger is running out of power. Close behind are three animal-skin–wearing humans who come through the portal in pursuit of Twigs, or at least, of his tusks, and who gather souvenirs by breaking into houses—a lampshade, a toaster, and a painting of a sunset. Gilly’s voice is droll—a bit cynical and quite appealing—and the madcap collection of players is amusingly cinematic. Lugo’s charming and expressive black-and-white illustrations are scattered throughout.
A diverting mix of animal fantasy and time travel. (author’s note) (Adventure. 8-13)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-358-41522-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
This really special triumph is bound to be widely discussed by teachers and writers, and widely esteemed by Creech’s devoted...
Versatile Newbery Medalist Creech (A Fine, Fine School, p. 862, etc.) continues to explore new writing paths with her latest, written as free verse from the viewpoint of a middle-school boy named Jack.
Creech knows all about reluctant writers from her own years of teaching, and she skillfully reveals Jack’s animosity toward books and poetry, and especially about writing his own poems. He questions the very nature of poetry, forcing the reader to think about this question, too. Jack’s class assignments incorporate responses to eight well-known poems (included in an appendix) and gradually reveal the circumstances, and Jack’s hidden feelings, about the loss of his beloved dog. Jack’s poetry grows in length, complexity, and quality from September to May, until he proudly sends his best poem about his dog and a heartfelt thank-you poem to Walter Dean Myers after the author’s school visit. The inclusion of the eight poems is an advantage, because comments on the poems are often part of Jack’s poetry. Others not already familiar with these famous poems, though, might miss the allusions in Jack’s work. (There is no note at the beginning of the book to point the reader to the appendix.) But it’s a quick read, offering a chance to go back and look again. Teachers will take this story to heart, recognizing Miss Stretchberry’s skilled and graceful teaching and Jack’s subtle emotional growth both as a person and a writer.
This really special triumph is bound to be widely discussed by teachers and writers, and widely esteemed by Creech’s devoted readers. (Fiction/poetry. 9-13)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-06-029287-3
Page Count: 112
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2001
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