An exciting story for animal lovers about courage, resilience, and working together.
A young Protector cat faces a tough challenge when an evil rat threatens her building in this novel for middle-grade readers.
Chief is one tough cat. As a Protector, he descends from the cats of ancient Egypt, with special skills to ward off evil, safeguard humans, and kill vermin. He’s a trusted partner to Sam, 37, a maintenance man in a Bronx motel. The team impresses the building’s owner, who gives them a big promotion to an uptown high-rise complex where Chief makes lots of new friends, including other buildings’ cats and some alley cats. None are Protectors, but they do look after their territories, and the local rats know their place—the sewers. When Chief meets the lovely Persian Ms. Charlene, they soon have a litter of kittens. Most find homes, but they get to keep the black-and-white runt, called Mouse. Despite her small size and fluffiness, Mouse shows her father’s aptitude for safeguarding the neighborhood, and Pops trains her as a Junior Protector. But Bragar, a rat made evil and crazy by cruel scientists, escapes and decides to take over the apartment complex. When Chief is taken out, Mouse must fulfill her calling as a Protector and battle Bragar and his minions—but she’ll need to forge an unlikely alliance that includes pigeons, a canary, a fancy mouse, and rats who know the value of respect. (Sensitive readers, no cats are permanently harmed, and the book doesn’t dwell on their injuries.) DeGrado (The 13th Month, 2015, etc.) gives his good-versus-evil story some thought-provoking undertones, such as concern for the environment (“green” cats versus harmful poisons); Bragar’s radicalization isn’t unlike that of a marginalized jihadi. The animal world of this novel feels as well-rounded, varied, and rich as any human community. But despite its seriousness, the novel is also charming, fun, and entertaining. Its many wonderful songs (alley cats sing the blues, for example) absolutely beg for transformation into an animated movie. The satisfying ending will have readers cheering out loud—and waiting hopefully for the next book in this series.
An exciting story for animal lovers about courage, resilience, and working together.Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4917-8812-7
Page Count: 252
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.
This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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