by Laurie Calkhoven ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 27, 2018
Best for young dog lovers.
If dogs could talk, World War II veteran Judy might have described her adventures the same way Calkhoven does.
Judy was an English pointer who was born in Shanghai in 1936. During peacetime, she was adopted by the crew of a British gunboat, the Gnat, and later transferred to the HMS Grasshopper. This latter boat, with civilian refugees onboard, was attacked by the Japanese and sunk in February 1942. The survivors, including Judy, took refuge on an island but were captured by the Japanese. Judy and her POW caretakers spent the rest of the war in prison camps where brutal treatment, little food, and a high mortality rate were the norm. Judy, while staying away from and defying Japanese guards, surreptitiously gathered food for the starving men and also helped morale by performing tricks she was taught by her human friend Frank Williams. After the war, Frank and Judy returned to England, but later they worked in Britain’s African colonies, where (she reports) she was euthanized at the age of 14. Judy’s fictionalized story is a remarkable tale of loyalty and the bond that can develop between dogs and people, describing but not focusing on the brutality of war. The young readers’ edition of Robert Weintraub’s No Better Friend (2016), for a slightly older audience, presents Judy’s story with much more detail, but this effort is just right for emergent readers.
Best for young dog lovers. (Historical fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-18523-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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by Dav Pilkey ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 26, 2014
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
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by Mitali Perkins ; illustrated by Jamie Hogan ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 14, 2015
A multicultural title with obvious appeal for animal-loving middle graders.
When a Bengali boy finds and saves a tiger cub from a man who wants to sell her on the black market, he realizes that the schoolwork he resents could lead to a career protecting his beloved Sunderbans island home.
When the not-yet-weaned cub escapes from a nearby reserve, Neel and many of his neighbors join the search. But some are in the pay of greedy Gupta, a shady entrepreneur who’s recently settled in their community. Even Neel’s father is tempted by Gupta’s money, although he knows that Gupta doesn’t plan to take the cub back to the refuge. Neel and his sister use the boy’s extensive knowledge of the island’s swampy interior to find the cub’s hiding place and lure it out so it can be returned to its mother. The Kolkota-born author visited the remote Sunderbans in the course of her research. She lovingly depicts this beautiful tropical forest in the context of Neel’s efforts to find the cub and his reluctance to leave his familiar world. While the conflicts resolve a bit too easily, the sense of place is strong and the tiger cub’s rescue very satisfying. Pastel illustrations will help readers envision the story.
A multicultural title with obvious appeal for animal-loving middle graders. (author's note, organizations, glossary) (Fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: April 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-58089-660-3
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
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