A sweet, beguiling summertime treat.
A 12-year-old girl befriends a 35ish-year-old (in dog years) canine during an unexpected summer of learning and growing in the forests of the Sierra Nevada.
A born acrobat, Tiana loves to climb trees, where tranquility awaits. Fortunately, a summer of camping and wildlife research with her high school science teacher parents stretches before her. Then, the pipsqueak climber finds a dog in a treetop. As Tiana and Tree Dog learn about and from each other, the pair discover the hard, essential work required of conservation dogs (canines that assist scientists by sniffing out endangered animals). Much like her previous dog-centric verse novel, Mountain Dog (2013), Engle’s latest leverages fascinating ecological facts and an amiable tone to bolster an earnest tale told in chapters alternating between child and dog. Though the reappearance of Tree Dog’s former owner initially threatens to derail the central pair’s deepening connection, the author weaves that thread into the overarching theme of inclusive community. Tiana’s journey through the U.S. naturalization process—her mom is white and Canadian; her dad is Cuban—proves utterly compelling, including her quibbles with the Oath of Allegiance’s more questionable components: “It’s exciting, except for the part / that tells me to swear an oath / to bear arms / against all enemies / foreign and domestic.” Davis’ expressive art inserts offer much-welcomed glimpses into all the fun.
A sweet, beguiling summertime treat. (author’s note, excerpt from a speech by Engle, examples of questions from citizenship test, further reading) (Verse novel. 10-14)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781250393852
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Godwin Books
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
Dolphin lovers will appreciate this look at our complicated relationship with these marine mammals.
Is dolphin-assisted therapy so beneficial to patients that it’s worth keeping a wild dolphin captive?
Twelve-year-old Lily has lived with her emotionally distant oncologist stepfather and a succession of nannies since her mother died in a car accident two years ago. Nannies leave because of the difficulty of caring for Adam, Lily’s severely autistic 4-year-old half brother. The newest, Suzanne, seems promising, but Lily is tired of feeling like a planet orbiting the sun Adam. When she meets blind Zoe, who will attend the same private middle school as Lily in the fall, Lily’s happy to have a friend. However, Zoe’s take on the plight of the captive dolphin, Nori, used in Adam’s therapy opens Lily’s eyes. She knows she must use her influence over her stepfather, who is consulting on Nori’s treatment for cancer (caused by an oil spill), to free the animal. Lily’s got several fine lines to walk, as she works to hold onto her new friend, convince her stepfather of the rightness of releasing Nori, and do what’s best for Adam. In her newest exploration of animal-human relationships, Rorby’s lonely, mature heroine faces tough but realistic situations. Siblings of children on the spectrum will identify with Lily. If the tale flirts with sentimentality and some of the characters are strident in their views, the whole never feels maudlin or didactic.
Dolphin lovers will appreciate this look at our complicated relationship with these marine mammals. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-67605-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.
If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?
For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
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