A pet lover’s delight.
In a dream house on land certified as a wildlife sanctuary, Kehret and her husband Carl made their home welcome to animals.
When they moved into their cabin on 10 wooded acres abutting forests in Washington, Peg and Carl had two cats, Pete and Molly, and a cairn terrier named Daisy. Over the years came a succession of stray and rescue cats and an occasional dog. When Carl died of heart problems after 48 years of marriage, Peg turned his studio (where he had restored player pianos and other mechanical instruments) into a foster home for cats. The studio became known as the cat room and sported a sign reading, “Home for Wayward Cats: Strays Welcome.” It was a safe house that Kehret fancied as akin to safe houses for runaway slaves along the Underground Railroad. Each chapter is a new adventure with a cat or dog that comes into Kehret’s life, and young readers who love animals will enjoy these chatty anecdotes. Young readers will understand when the author says she not only rescued animals, they, in turn, rescued her by providing companionship after the death of her husband.
A pet lover’s delight. (9-13)Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-525-42399-7
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2012
“In 1875 there were perhaps fifty million of them. Just twenty-five years later nearly every one of them was gone.” The author of many nonfiction books for young people (Bridges; Truck; Giants of the Highways, etc.) tells the story of the American bison, from prehistory, when Bison latifrons walked North America along with the dinosaurs, to the recent past when the Sioux and other plains Indians hunted the familiar bison. Robbins uses historic photographs, etchings, and paintings to show their sad history. To the Native Americans of the plains, the buffalo was central to their way of life. Arriving Europeans, however, hunted for sport, slaughtering thousands for their hides, or to clear the land for the railroad, or farmers. One telling photo shows a man atop a mountain of buffalo skulls. At the very last moment, enough individuals “came to their senses,” and worked to protect the remaining few. Thanks to their efforts, this animal is no longer endangered, but the author sounds a somber note as he concludes: “the millions are gone, and they will never come back.” A familiar story, well-told, and enhanced by the many well-chosen period photographs. (photo credits) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83025-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
The life of Manjiro Nakahama, also known as John Mung, makes an amazing story: shipwrecked as a young fisherman for months on a remote island, rescued by an American whaler, he became the first Japanese resident of the US. Then, after further adventures at sea and in the California gold fields, he returned to Japan where his first-hand knowledge of America and its people earned him a central role in the modernization of his country after its centuries of peaceful isolation had ended. Expanding a passage from her Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun (1985, Newbery Honor), Blumberg not only delivers an absorbing tale of severe hardships and startling accomplishments, but also takes side excursions to give readers vivid pictures of life in mid-19th-century Japan, aboard a whaler, and amidst the California Gold Rush. The illustrations, a generous mix of contemporary photos and prints with Manjiro’s own simple, expressive drawings interspersed, are at least as revealing. Seeing a photo of Commodore Perry side by side with a Japanese artist’s painted portrait, or strange renditions of a New England town and a steam train, based solely on Manjiro’s verbal descriptions, not only captures the unique flavor of Japanese art, but points up just how high were the self-imposed barriers that separated Japan from the rest of the world. Once again, Blumberg shows her ability to combine high adventure with vivid historical detail to open a window onto the past. (source note) (Biography. 10-13)
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2001
ISBN: 0-688-17484-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
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