Dance, drama, and a star turn make this a page-turning tale.
Ballet is beautiful for a mouse ballerina.
Irina, a white, Russian girl whose parents work backstage at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, loves ballet. Esmeralda, a Russian mouse who lives in the Mariinsky, also loves ballet. It’s 1892, and The Nutcracker: A Ballet in Two Acts with music by Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky is set to premier. The mice also have a company, the Russian Mouse Ballet Company, and are planning their own production to the same music. But Esmeralda faces a terrible conflict. Can a mouse troupe dance to a scenario that features evil mice who are defeated in battle? Kladstrup has crafted a dual tale filled with charm, humor, conflict, and danger. The humans (most of them, at least) are out to exterminate the mice; Tchaikovsky is especially rodentophobic, while Irina is especially sympathetic and helpful. Esmeralda emerges as the perfect main character. She faces trials as a dancer—managing her tail properly is difficult. She displays courage and know-how in obtaining costumes from Irina’s doll, crafts an appropriate mouse version of the story, and best of all, she finds her dance muse in the gloriously enchanting score. The synopses for both ballets are included. Helquist’s full-page panels in shades of black are delightfully expressive and are filled with charming details.
Dance, drama, and a star turn make this a page-turning tale. (author’s note) (Animal fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8519-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
With so many excellent animal-fantasy books available, there’s no reason to spend money or time on this one.
A squirrel and his dog friend go on a journey to find a key that will unlock a powerful map in this middle-grade fantasy.
Employing the standard hero’s-journey template—young, unsure protagonist leaves home to find a treasure that will change his life and the lives of those he cares for—debut author Dhariwal tells the story of 13-year-old Squirrel, a slave in the city of Bimmau, who inadvertently drinks a liquid that begins to unlock a mystery that only he can solve. At stake is not only his own freedom, but that of all the cats, dogs, crows, mongooses, and other animal and insect beings that populate this confusing story. Epic tales featuring animal protagonists have been done and done well, but this is not one of them. The author fails to create a world that is believable, giving readers instead wince-inducing puns (Pedipurr, “faux-paw,” BuzzEx) and copious, confusing similes that have little to no relationship to the story’s world. The overall impression is one of cleverness at the expense of storyline. Add to this trope-y characters with gratuitous accents, overwrought descriptions, unsurprising and/or illogical plot points, and even some very out-of-place sexual innuendos, and the result is a book that continuously pulls readers out of it—making them ask themselves why they should keep reading.
With so many excellent animal-fantasy books available, there’s no reason to spend money or time on this one. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-4475-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
Overall, a winning and sometimes-harrowing story of a dog and his many families.
A loyal, playful, and opinionated dachshund adjusts to a new home after losing his human in an incident he cannot remember.
The story is told from the point of view of the dog, named Strudel by the Philadelphia shelter that initially takes him in. At the shelter, Strudel meets a fifth-grader named Jake, who reads him adventure stories from a book called Chief, Dog of the Old West and ultimately adopts him. Jake's house is full of chaos—there’s tension between Jake and the older sister he's nicknamed "Mutanski," forgotten meals and walks, and Jake's mom's demanding, easily provoked boyfriend, Arnie—and both Strudel and the humans adapt slowly but discernibly. Meanwhile, Jake does dangerous "favors" for a neighborhood bully, and a gang of cats menaces Strudel when he's left outside during the day. The multiple plotlines keep the story moving quickly, and each—including the mystery of Strudel's separation from his original owner—is satisfyingly resolved. Strudel's perspective vacillates between true to dog nature (exchanging pee "messages" with other neighborhood dogs) and not at all: he mistakes a garden hose for a rattlesnake in part because it is green (real dogs don't perceive color that way) and, more distressingly, dislikes chocolate but suffers no apparent consequences from eating it, despite its notorious toxicity to dogs.
Overall, a winning and sometimes-harrowing story of a dog and his many families. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3534-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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