A cool addition to a magical children’ series that helps readers explore animals and nature.
Arctic adventure awaits in Cherry’s third installment of the Erutuf National Park series for children.
After receiving a mysterious email from a subscription service called “Polar Post,” siblings Reese and Dean Walters (who are 10 and 8 years old, respectively) are transported from their room in a whirl of colors and music to a white, snow-covered landscape. Ecstatic, Reese and Dean realize they are back in Erutuf National Park, a magical expanse of many different habitats where they’ve previously had adventures befriending a talking sea turtle and bison and battling pirates. Unlike previous visits, however, this time Reese and Dean’s golden retriever Tutu has made the trip with them, and she wastes no time communicating with them via the mystical power of the national park: “Do you have any treats? Treats, please. I’m a good girl!” After exploring their surroundings, Reese, Dean, and Tutu discover a bunker where a polar bear and card-trick enthusiast named Tyler gives them a new mission: Find the special magic map of Erutuf’s arctic habitat and relocate it to a new hiding spot away from the pirates. To complete their mission, Reese, Dean, and Tutu must navigate a winding ice maze, visit the observatory of an ice palace, and explore a library with special books made of ice—all while avoiding the pirates, who happen to be posing as influencers documenting their trip to the park. This addition to the Erutuf National Park series is a fun adventure with a unique environmental angle and contemporary dangers like climate change and social media. Dean’s puns and love of books butt up against Reese’s logical mind for mathematics to create an enjoyable sibling dynamic that’s only heightened as their instincts to protect and comfort each other come to the fore in the more thrilling parts of the narrative. The animal characters’ quirks, like Ty the polar bear’s magic tricks and Tutu’s mania for treats and making new friends, add lively humor to the proceedings.
A cool addition to a magical children’ series that helps readers explore animals and nature.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9798987923146
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Grand Sunshine Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 19, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
Entrancing and uplifting.
A small dog, the elderly woman who owns him, and a homeless girl come together to create a tale of serendipity.
Piper, almost 12, her parents, and her younger brother are at the bottom of a long slide toward homelessness. Finally in a family shelter, Piper finds that her newfound safety gives her the opportunity to reach out to someone who needs help even more. Jewel, mentally ill, lives in the park with her dog, Baby. Unwilling to leave her pet, and forbidden to enter the shelter with him, she struggles with the winter weather. Ree, also homeless and with a large dog, helps when she can, but after Jewel gets sick and is hospitalized, Baby’s taken to the animal shelter, and Ree can’t manage the complex issues alone. It’s Piper, using her best investigative skills, who figures out Jewel’s backstory. Still, she needs all the help of the shelter Firefly Girls troop that she joins to achieve her accomplishment: to raise enough money to provide Jewel and Baby with a secure, hopeful future and, maybe, with their kindness, to inspire a happier story for Ree. Told in the authentic alternating voices of loving child and loyal dog, this tale could easily slump into a syrupy melodrama, but Pyron lets her well-drawn characters earn their believable happy ending, step by challenging step, by reaching out and working together. Piper, her family, and Jewel present white; Pyron uses hair and naming convention, respectively, to cue Ree as black and Piper’s friend Gabriela as Latinx.
Entrancing and uplifting. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-283922-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
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