Feline aficionados may love the cat characters, but the “mystery” won’t leave them purring.
Cat brothers Anton and Cecil are on the road again…or above it, as the case may be.
Fresh from ocean and train trips (Cats at Sea, 2013, etc.), slim, smart Anton and his fluffy, trouble-magnet brother, Cecil, are ready to head home. Their friends in the mouse network give them directions that lead to their meeting Ruby, a bloodhound who works with a human detective. Ruby has a case she’d like the cats’ help on: puppies are going missing at the fair. The trio splits up, and with the help of other animals around the fair, they find the puppies are being dognapped. Danger-prone Cecil ends up in a trap meant to nab a puppy…and then in a hot air balloon. Separated again, the brothers must reunite and expose the human dog thieves while helping their animal friends along the way. Adult literary author Valerie Martin and her educator niece, Lisa Martin, present a mild third outing. While technically well-written, the action sequences are more wordy than wild, and the animal characters are so pleasant there’s very little tension in their world. They don’t understand everything the humans around them do, and that may elicit a few smiles from some young readers. Parents seeking a fright-free, friendly tale with few surprises need look no further.
Feline aficionados may love the cat characters, but the “mystery” won’t leave them purring. (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: Dec. 27, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61620-459-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A waggish tale with a serious (and timely) theme.
An age-old rivalry is reluctantly put aside when two young vacationers are lost in the wilderness.
Anthropomorphic—in body if definitely not behavior—Dogg Scout Oscar and pampered Molly Hissleton stray from their separate camps, meet by chance in a trackless magic forest, and almost immediately recognize that their only chance of survival, distasteful as the notion may be, lies in calling a truce. Patterson and Grabenstein really work the notion here that cooperation is better than prejudice founded on ignorance and habit, interspersing explicit exchanges on the topic while casting the squabbling pair with complementary abilities that come out as they face challenges ranging from finding food to escaping such predators as a mountain lion and a pack of vicious “weaselboars.” By the time they cross a wide river (on a raft steered by “Old Jim,” an otter whose homespun utterances are generally cribbed from Mark Twain—an uneasy reference) back to civilization, the two are BFFs. But can that friendship survive the return, with all the social and familial pressures to resume the old enmity? A climactic cage-match–style confrontation before a worked-up multispecies audience provides the answer. In the illustrations (not seen in finished form) López plops wide-eyed animal heads atop clothed, more or less human forms and adds dialogue balloons for punchlines.
A waggish tale with a serious (and timely) theme. (Fantasy. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-41156-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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