A tender and timely tale; likely to inspire future animal rights activists.
In this novel, a large, juvenile polar bear forages for food in the Canadian town of Churchill, an experience that ends his life in the wild.
In Inuit poetry, the polar bear is called Pihoqahiak, “the ever-wandering one.” But in Ryan’s poignant tale about the plight of wild animals whose territory begins to intersect with human civilization, the free-roaming days of a polar bear who becomes known as Patch are over as quickly as they began. It is Halloween eve in 1986, and the 2-year-old bear has discovered there is tasty garbage to be consumed in Churchill, on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay. He enters a house, causes a commotion, and rushes out the front door, spotting 11-year-old Jordan Johnson on the street. He charges after the frightened boy and is quickly shot with a tranquilizer dart by a bear-patrol officer. The animal is then taken to a holding cell in an airport hangar. The next day, Jordan and his 14-year-old sister, Raven, visit the caged bear. The magnificent youngster is huge, weighing close to 400 pounds “and standing…over seven feet tall. His fur was dense, his paws huge and the muscles on his hindquarters bulged and strained as the bear stood upright.” Looking directly at Jordan, he lets out a massive growl, opening his mouth wide and revealing a gray patch on his tongue. The mark will earn him his name and enable Jordan and Raven to follow his journeys, first to a German zoo, then to a traveling circus. Ryan’s novel, aimed at middle-grade and YA readers, is both engaging and informative. The author includes tidbits about polar bear life in the wild, such as how the animals fish and spread their paws out wide to minimize the risk of falling through thin ice. And she vividly portrays the variety of Patch’s experiences in captivity—some of them gentle, others terribly cruel. Heart-tugging scenes capture the bear pacing in boredom or feeling listless, with a damaged coat from malnutrition and the heat. Jordan and Raven are pleasant human protagonists, determined to free the bear, but it is the majestic Patch who will linger in readers’ minds long after the final page.
A tender and timely tale; likely to inspire future animal rights activists.Pub Date: March 24, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5305-4127-0
Page Count: 124
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
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
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