With the introduction of Fido’s gifted progeny, Jennings leaves readers begging for another absurd adventure. (Animal...
Jennings picks up where Guinea Dog (2010) left off in this playful, quick-paced tale that touches on some common dilemmas for middle graders.
As the story opens, Rufus once again feels ambivalent about the doglike behavior of Fido, his guinea pig. Rufus’ friend Murph has been exaggerating Fido’s role in saving Rufus’ life when he broke his foot “crossing a raging river filled with snapping turtles.” (It was really a slow-moving creek devoid of snapping turtles.) Now, Rufus’ classmates are showering him with unwanted attention. They all want guinea dogs, especially his nemesis, Dmitri, who will not take no for an answer. To make matters worse, eccentric Lurena—a girl!—keeps coming to Rufus’ rescue. There’s only one solution: Rufus needs to un-train Fido—and help her lose the extra pounds she put on while Rufus was laid up. But Fido runs away! Short chapters and a slightly larger-than-usual font make this an easy read. Rufus is a snappy narrator, and his fumbling observations about his parents, himself, his friends and his situation are fresh and funny. Youngsters will relate as Rufus learns to say no, feel grateful for his friends (whether boy or girl) and make right his relationship with Fido, whose weight gain was for a very good reason.
With the introduction of Fido’s gifted progeny, Jennings leaves readers begging for another absurd adventure. (Animal fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-60684-452-6
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Egmont USA
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2013
Aswim with good feelings and cogent points to ponder.
A gregarious harbor porpoise gains an expanded circle of land-based friends and allies in this sequel to A Dog’s Porpoise (2019).
Into this second wholesome, joyfully splashy episode, the pun-loving author folds both sober concerns about the hazards of human–wild animal interactions and a cautionary subplot about being too quick to judge others. Lars the dog is delighted to dive in with Natalie, his adopted human, to play with finny, friendly harbor porpoise Bangor. But a likewise playful river otter, soon dubbed “Marina” by charmed observers, arrives to replace him as the center of attention. Worse yet (from Natalie’s point of view, anyway), the furry new visitor brings not only a fresh flood of reporters and tourists to sleepy Ogunquit, Maine, but also a standoffish stranger, formerly associated with an abusive roadside animal attraction, who asks ominously sharp questions about exactly where the otter and Bangor’s family pod are most often spotted. As it turns out, the stranger’s motives are actually benign, and no sooner does he voice warnings about how being too comfortable around humans can place wild animals in danger than Bangor is wounded in a collision with a boat and beached. This crisis sets the stage for both a dramatic rescue (in which even Lars and the otter play important roles) and better relations all round. The mildly anthropomorphic creature cast is joined by a human one that’s cued white.
Aswim with good feelings and cogent points to ponder. (Fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781339019833
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Brilliant, joyful, and deeply moving.
Inspired by her friendship with a famous poet, an 11-year-old attempts to rescue a baby elephant.
Oriol is homesick for Cuba, bullied at school for her Spanish accent, and mourning her Abuelita, who died after their family moved to California to help her receive a diabetes treatment that failed. Set in Santa Barbara in 1947, this novel in verse follows Oriol, who finds comfort in caring for animals at her parents’ veterinary clinic and at a nearby wildlife ranch where movies are filmed. She also befriends an elderly neighbor, later revealed to be a fictionalized version of a real historical figure: Gabriela Mistral, the Chilean poet of mestizo Incan and Basque heritage and the first Latin American winner of the Nobel Prize in literature. Mistral teaches Oriol to write poems as a way of coping with her emotions and later encourages her to write a petition to help free a baby elephant cruelly separated from her mother and twin sibling. The book is replete with lovely, nearly magical imagery: In one scene, the mother elephant uses her trunk to swoop Oriol off her feet for a hug. In another, elephants and humans march together for justice. Throughout, the power of words—both to help children find where they belong and to make the world a kinder place—profoundly resonates.
Brilliant, joyful, and deeply moving. (author's note, poem by Gabriela Mistral, further reading) (Verse historical fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-20669-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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