Poignantly compelling and ultimately upbeat; keep tissues handy.
A tiny Yorkshire Terrier who has survived 11 years in a Virginia puppy mill learns about human kindness and love in Lujan’s middle-grade novel.
Small Dog, as she is called by her special friend Queenie (a honeybee), lies in her cage in the wretched Kennel Eight (“Those curious enough to peek in, would find kenneled dogs suffering from years of neglect”). It is the only home she has ever known. She is tending to her new litter, one male and one undersized female. They are the smallest, and will be the last, of the more than 60 puppies she has given birth to in her lifetime. Frail and undernourished, with missing teeth and a rotting jaw, Small Dog is filled with abundant love for her puppies. However, Wayne Wyatt, the owner of the puppy mill, needs cash, and Small Dog’s little boy is taken from her to be sold. Even worse, now that she is no longer useful for breeding, Wayne says it is time to dispose of her. He takes her away from her female pup and drives her to the side of a road where he ties her to a tree, leaving her there to die, starving and trembling. Fortunately, Angie Tucker, a nurse driving by, sees what is happening. She rescues the little abused Yorkie and brings her to a nearby veterinarian. Georgia Grace, who runs a Senior Dog Rescue organization, is notified and immediately adopts her, naming her Miri (for “Miracle”). But Miri has a mission to fulfill: She must escape and rescue her daughter. Lujan’s wistful fantasy is the story of Miri’s courageous and determined efforts to save her last puppy from the painful suffering and abuse that have marked her own life. The novel is both heart-rending and hopeful, with a despicable villain, more than a bit of mystical magic, numerous cute and tender inter-canine conversations, and an endearing collection of human protagonists. Reminiscent of classic Disney properties in its prose and content (with a touch of saccharine Lifetime-television drama in the mix), the narrative is sure to provoke a healthy mix of tears and cheers, and will likely engage middle-grade readers.
Poignantly compelling and ultimately upbeat; keep tissues handy.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781965340660
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Mindstir Media
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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