While more stuffed bear than gruff bear, a fast adventure story.
Waiting for his parents after Secrets of Bearhaven (2016), Spencer deals with an imperiled member of his bear family.
Reports from Professor Weaver (bear) and Uncle Mark (white human) that Spencer’s parents will arrive safely at Bearhaven any day are all lies, which (olive-skinned) Spencer learns when he overhears them discuss the deception, which is to keep him from losing hope. Angry, Spencer plays hooky from bear school to go try to help his parents by himself—but he hardly gets out of their part of the forest before encountering Kirby, a lonely surveillance enthusiast determined to uncover the forest’s strangeness. But when his bear best friend, Kate, who has followed him from Bearhaven, attempts to protect him from Kirby, Spencer cruelly shoos Kate away so Kirby won’t spot her BEAR-COM. When Spencer returns to Bearhaven to apologize, he learns Kate never made it back—and the bears blame him. Mining Kirby for intel, Bearhaven learns Kate’s fate, and it’s very bad news bears. She’s been abducted by Moon Farm, a toy factory covering for a black-market bear operation that sells to private collectors, circuses, or, worse, for parts, making for a high-stakes mission. Once there, they discover even worse things, progressing the overarching series plot. With characterization separated from the plot, occasionally plot needs result in bearly believable reasoning.
While more stuffed bear than gruff bear, a fast adventure story. (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-81304-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A wild romp that champions making space for vulnerable creatures and each other.
A boy with ADHD explores nature and himself.
Eleven-year-old Jake Rizzi just wants to be seen as “normal”; he blames his brain for leading him into trouble and making him do things that annoy his peers and even his own parents. Case in point: He’s stuck spending a week in rural Oregon with an aunt he barely knows while his parents go on vacation. Jake’s reluctance changes as he learns about the town’s annual festival, during which locals search for a fabled turtle. But news of this possibly undiscovered species has spread. Although Aunt Hettle insists to Jake that it’s only folklore, the fame-hungry convene, sure that the Ruby-Backed Turtle is indeed real—just as Jake discovers is the case. Keeping its existence secret is critical to protecting the rare creature from a poacher and others with ill intentions. Readers will keep turning pages to find out how Jake and new friend Mia will foil the caricatured villains. Along the way, Bramucci packs in teachable moments around digital literacy, mindfulness, and ecological interdependence, along with the message that “the only way to protect the natural world is to love it.” Jake’s inner monologue elucidates the challenges and benefits of ADHD as well as practical coping strategies. Whether or not readers share Jake’s diagnosis, they’ll empathize with his insecurities. Jake and his family present white; Mia is Black, and names of secondary characters indicate some ethnic diversity.
A wild romp that champions making space for vulnerable creatures and each other. (Adventure. 8-11)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781547607020
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to...
A group of talking farm animals catches wind of the farm owner’s intention to burn the barn (with them in it) for insurance money and hatches a plan to flee.
Bond begins briskly—within the first 10 pages, barn cat Burdock has overheard Dewey Baxter’s nefarious plan, and by Page 17, all of the farm animals have been introduced and Burdock is sharing the terrifying news. Grady, Dewey’s (ever-so-slightly) more principled brother, refuses to go along, but instead of standing his ground, he simply disappears. This leaves the animals to fend for themselves. They do so by relying on their individual strengths and one another. Their talents and personalities match their species, bringing an element of realism to balance the fantasy elements. However, nothing can truly compensate for the bland horror of the premise. Not the growing sense of family among the animals, the serendipitous intervention of an unknown inhabitant of the barn, nor the convenient discovery of an alternate home. Meanwhile, Bond’s black-and-white drawings, justly compared to those of Garth Williams, amplify the sense of dissonance. Charming vignettes and single- and double-page illustrations create a pastoral world into which the threat of large-scale violence comes as a shock.
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to ponder the awkward coincidences that propel the plot. (Animal fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-33217-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
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