Buoyant encounters with nature at its most appealing—and dangerous.
A dolphin and a young animal lover rescue one another in turn from deadly perils in this suspenseful tale.
Schusterman’s latest is rich in personal connections and dramatic twists. Knocked off a boat by a sudden squall while out fishing with her dad, 12-year-old Dany nearly drowns but is guided to shore by a friendly dolphin she dubs Blue. She then gets a chance to return the favor when a hurricane that slams into Galveston leaves Blue in a bayou, cut off from the open ocean. The author offers both a general view of how Dany and her big, close family expertly prepare for a hurricane and also, in more detail, how she helps a wildlife rescue team safely treat the injured dolphin. Schusterman conveys compelling senses of both her young protagonist’s emotional ups and downs and of what it must be like to hunker down in a darkened house while a wildly destructive storm rages outside. In turning herself from a follower to a leader by organizing part of the dolphin rescue after the hurricane passes and also befriending a lonely new arrival in town while learning how to stay in touch with a friend who has moved away, Dany exhibits plenty of character development, too. Physical descriptors are minimal.
Buoyant encounters with nature at its most appealing—and dangerous. (Fiction. 10-12)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781546182245
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
Less charming than the opener but does feature a thimbleful of moral quandary at its center.
Armed only with her magical sewing needle, foundling mouse Delphine sets out to confront the cruel rat king in this duology closer.
As vicious rat armies pillage the mouse realms in search of her and her pointy, long-hidden treasure, Delphine finds herself waging an inner war that parallels the outer one. According to dusty documents and other reputable sources, the needle’s good powers can be perverted, but she sees no other way except killing to stop evil rat King Midnight. While struggling with a grim determination to go over to the dark side that sets her at odds with her own fundamentally loving nature, Delphine threads her way along with loyal allies past various scrapes—only to come, climactically, face to face with not only her nemesis, but her own past. Moon stitches in flashbacks to fill out the details of a tragic old love triangle that reaches its fruition here and sews her tale up with a return to Château Desjardins just in time for Cinderella’s wedding and a celebratory rodentine ball in the chandelier overhead, and she leaves a fringe of epilogue hinting at further installments to come.
Less charming than the opener but does feature a thimbleful of moral quandary at its center. (secret codes) (Animal fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-368-04833-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
A charming series opener.
A foundling mouse sets out to uncover the mystery of her origins and of the magical needle sized for humans that was left with her.
Delphine’s travels begin with a summons to the palace, where her growing reputation as a brilliant seamstress commands an order for a ball gown for Princess Petits-Oiseaux—and also gives her a chance to discover exciting hints about a vanished order of needle-wielding magic mice known as the Threaded and of an ancient war with the rats. Meanwhile, no sooner does Midnight, cruel king of the rats, learn that the needle they have been seeking for a century has been found than said old war suddenly heats up and turns into a deadly chase. Also meanwhile, only barely noticed by the animal cast but sure to snag readers’ attention, certain events involving another seamstress, a pumpkin coach, a ball, a prince, and a glass slipper are happening above the floorboards in the parallel human world. That isn’t the only sly touch in this bibbidi bobbidi debut, which is rich in clearly delineated character types, features plenty of brisk action, and is also, overall, more than a bit reminiscent in tone and setting to Brian Jacques’ Redwall series (though with more focus on fashion than food). While this volume is mostly setup, heroes and villains alike end up on their marks, and plenty of loose ends remain to stitch up later.
A charming series opener. (Animal fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-368-04802-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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