A thrilling and educational tale for young and old alike.
A young plant learns about the natural world in this debut eco-adventure for middle-grade readers.
As soon as Allium, a garlic plant, has sprouted, she’s curious about the world around her: what are those drops falling from the sky? What is that red-and-black-speckled bug coming in for a landing? The insect, it turns out, is a ladybug named Bet who answers all of Allium’s other questions and teaches her all about the natural world. Things are going well until Allium and the other inhabitants of the garden are threatened by the Septoria sisters—a couple of very serious plant diseases that could wipe everything out, as they’ve done many times before. To combat this possibility, Allium and the rest of her friends must come up with a plan in time, or they may be doomed to become tomorrow’s compost for crop rotation. Most works that use anthropomorphic animals and plants for the sake of teaching a lesson about the natural world are lighthearted, frothy works. Lisa G. Gabory’s debut, though, isn’t quite as breezy as others—and this is a good thing. Instead, the author sets the scene for a bit of a thriller, and the tension increases as Allium and her garden get closer to their potential doom. Of course, this drama also relates plenty of important information about natural processes, such as photosynthesis or how sap-sucking insects produce honeydew (which ants love). These scientific breaks keep the suspense at bay while also educating young readers. Also on the docket are lessons in friendship, bravery, and perseverance, which anyone could stand to brush up on. Both adults and kids will enjoy taking a trip through Allium’s world, and that’s a testament to the quality of the author’s prose and her penchant for big ideas. That said, the illustrations by the author and Lisa M. Gabory are unnecessary, and frankly, a little spooky. All in all, though, this work is certainly a welcome addition to the canon of talking-plant stories.
A thrilling and educational tale for young and old alike.Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5089-0253-9
Page Count: 168
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Thought-provoking and charming.
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
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book.
Ada Twist’s incessant stream of questions leads to answers that help solve a neighborhood crisis.
Ada conducts experiments at home to answer questions such as, why does Mom’s coffee smell stronger than Dad’s coffee? Each answer leads to another question, another hypothesis, and another experiment, which is how she goes from collecting data on backyard birds for a citizen-science project to helping Rosie Revere figure out how to get her uncle Ned down from the sky, where his helium-filled “perilous pants” are keeping him afloat. The Questioneers—Rosie the engineer, Iggy Peck the architect, and Ada the scientist—work together, asking questions like scientists. Armed with knowledge (of molecules and air pressure, force and temperature) but more importantly, with curiosity, Ada works out a solution. Ada is a recognizable, three-dimensional girl in this delightfully silly chapter book: tirelessly curious and determined yet easily excited and still learning to express herself. If science concepts aren’t completely clear in this romp, relationships and emotions certainly are. In playful full- and half-page illustrations that break up the text, Ada is black with Afro-textured hair; Rosie and Iggy are white. A closing section on citizen science may inspire readers to get involved in science too; on the other hand, the “Ode to a Gas!” may just puzzle them. Other backmatter topics include the importance of bird study and the threat palm-oil use poses to rainforests.
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3422-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
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BOOK REVIEW
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