by Julie Salamon ; illustrated by Jill Weber ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 8, 2016
Emotional depth, adventure, and puppies—highly satisfying.
Three puppies learn empowering life lessons in this middle-grade tale.
When Mutt, a stray dog, rescues a domestic cat from a predator’s attack, the cat’s owner, Mr. Thomas, grudgingly lets the dog stay. Mutt takes her job as protector seriously and patrols the land daily. Salamon’s third-person narration rotates among Mutt’s and other animals’ points of view, an important stylistic choice when readers meet Gilbert, the Mexican boy who comes to the orchard seasonally with his family to work. In Mutt’s eyes, Gilbert is a kind boy who works hard, not the vilified migrant worker that some human Americans may label him. When Mutt has puppies, Gilbert delights in them, especially the smallest, whom he names Luna. The tale takes a dark turn when Gilbert and his family leave for Florida and Mr. Thomas gives the puppies away. Luna and her brother end up in a horrible puppy mill, where they endure squalor, hunger, and punishment. Their subsequent escape, survival by wits, and determination to each find their “promise” is subtly mirrored by Gilbert’s family’s own immigrant story. Using simple and sturdy phrases that belie the story’s sophistication, Salamon gives the journey-as-a-vehicle-to–self-discovery theme a poignancy that avoids schmaltz (no mean feat with puppies as protagonists). Weber’s primitive-style black-and-white illustrations add their own emotive power.
Emotional depth, adventure, and puppies—highly satisfying. (Adventure. 7-12)Pub Date: March 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-525-42778-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
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by Julie Salamon ; illustrated by Jill Weber
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by Julie Salamon ; illustrated by Jill Weber
by Peter Brown ; illustrated by Peter Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 5, 2016
Thought-provoking and charming.
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New York Times Bestseller
A sophisticated robot—with the capacity to use senses of sight, hearing, and smell—is washed to shore on an island, the only robot survivor of a cargo of 500.
When otters play with her protective packaging, the robot is accidently activated. Roz, though without emotions, is intelligent and versatile. She can observe and learn in service of both her survival and her principle function: to help. Brown links these basic functions to the kind of evolution Roz undergoes as she figures out how to stay dry and intact in her wild environment—not easy, with pine cones and poop dropping from above, stormy weather, and a family of cranky bears. She learns to understand and eventually speak the language of the wild creatures (each species with its different “accent”). An accident leaves her the sole protector of a baby goose, and Roz must ask other creatures for help to shelter and feed the gosling. Roz’s growing connection with her environment is sweetly funny, reminiscent of Randall Jarrell’s The Animal Family. At every moment Roz’s actions seem plausible and logical yet surprisingly full of something like feeling. Robot hunters with guns figure into the climax of the story as the outside world intrudes. While the end to Roz’s benign and wild life is startling and violent, Brown leaves Roz and her companions—and readers—with hope.
Thought-provoking and charming. (Science fiction/fantasy. 7-11)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-38199-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
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More In The Series
by Peter Brown ; illustrated by Peter Brown
by Peter Brown ; illustrated by Peter Brown
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by Peter Brown ; illustrated by Peter Brown
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by Aaron Reynolds ; illustrated by Peter Brown
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SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
by Peter Brown ; illustrated by Peter Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 2023
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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by Aaron Reynolds ; illustrated by Peter Brown
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by Peter Brown ; illustrated by Peter Brown
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by Peter Brown ; illustrated by Peter Brown
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