A good read for young nature enthusiasts.
Twelve-year-old Adrianna has a passion for wildlife, so when she has a chance to be on camera for Wild Survival! her family’s new TV show, she jumps at the chance—never guessing it will lead her into the jaws of a wild crocodile.
After running an animal sanctuary and zoo and its companion YouTube channel, the members of the Villalobos family are ready to expand on their social media success: A TV show will help fund their animal rescue program and conservation efforts. With producer Mr. Savage’s go-big-or-go-home attitude, their first stop is the mangroves of Cuba, in search of an injured “Mega Croc.” Based on a floating boat hotel in the wilderness, they begin their search as Adrianna tries to prove that she is ready to help rescue even the most dangerous of animals. The Villaloboses are a loving family whose interactions are enjoyable to observe. Readers will understand Adrianna’s desire to keep up with her older brother, Feye, and prove her competence to her family. Illustrations of typical Cuban flora and fauna (here’s looking at you, hutia!) and fun facts enhance the book; the author clearly did extensive research on the setting. However, the pace is slow at times, and the storyline about dangerous poachers never comes to a head, ultimately feeling like a letdown. Feye, who is adopted, is described as dark-skinned and not looking like the rest of the family members, who are minimally described.
A good read for young nature enthusiasts. (author’s note, animal facts, Spanish glossary) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-63505-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride.
Zipping back and forth in time atop outsized robo–bell bottoms, mad inventor Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) legs his way to center stage in this slightly less-labored continuation of episode 9.
The action commences after a rambling recap and a warning not to laugh or smile on pain of being forced to read Sarah Plain and Tall. Pilkey first sends his peevish protagonist back a short while to save the Earth (destroyed in the previous episode), then on to various prehistoric eras in pursuit of George, Harold and the Captain. It’s all pretty much an excuse for many butt jokes, dashes of off-color humor (“Tippy pressed the button on his Freezy-Beam 4000, causing it to rise from the depths of his Robo-Pants”), a lengthy wordless comic and two tussles in “Flip-o-rama.” Still, the chase kicks off an ice age, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the Big Bang (here the Big “Ka-Bloosh!”). It ends with a harrowing glimpse of what George and Harold would become if they decided to go straight. The author also chucks in a poopy-doo-doo song with musical notation (credited to Albert P. Einstein) and plenty of ink-and-wash cartoon illustrations to crank up the ongoing frenzy.
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-17536-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
Entrancing and uplifting.
A small dog, the elderly woman who owns him, and a homeless girl come together to create a tale of serendipity.
Piper, almost 12, her parents, and her younger brother are at the bottom of a long slide toward homelessness. Finally in a family shelter, Piper finds that her newfound safety gives her the opportunity to reach out to someone who needs help even more. Jewel, mentally ill, lives in the park with her dog, Baby. Unwilling to leave her pet, and forbidden to enter the shelter with him, she struggles with the winter weather. Ree, also homeless and with a large dog, helps when she can, but after Jewel gets sick and is hospitalized, Baby’s taken to the animal shelter, and Ree can’t manage the complex issues alone. It’s Piper, using her best investigative skills, who figures out Jewel’s backstory. Still, she needs all the help of the shelter Firefly Girls troop that she joins to achieve her accomplishment: to raise enough money to provide Jewel and Baby with a secure, hopeful future and, maybe, with their kindness, to inspire a happier story for Ree. Told in the authentic alternating voices of loving child and loyal dog, this tale could easily slump into a syrupy melodrama, but Pyron lets her well-drawn characters earn their believable happy ending, step by challenging step, by reaching out and working together. Piper, her family, and Jewel present white; Pyron uses hair and naming convention, respectively, to cue Ree as black and Piper’s friend Gabriela as Latinx.
Entrancing and uplifting. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-283922-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
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