A delightful, action-packed adventure.
In a world where people and anthropomorphic wolves coexist, Ruby Calvino, a human girl, and Fillan, a wolf cub, are accused of murder.
“Small, wiry, and pale” Ruby is about to win her first Tooth & Claw championship (think Hunger Games lite) for her team, the Netherburg Reds, in front of thousands of spectators. The 12-year-old, who’s brash and athletic, is facing her final opponent, the undefeated Alarick, a skilled and ruthless wolf. But just as she begins to make her move, Alarick drops dead. After a bottle of poison turns up in Ruby’s bag—and that same poison was present on flowers that Fillan (a member of the stadium staff) delivered to Alarick before the match—intransigent Detective Breck accuses them both of murder. The pair go on the run, hoping to save themselves and find the real killer, but no one is who they seem to be in this romp of a tale. Ruby’s athletic training and Fillan’s sense of smell help them out of tight spots. Bell weaves in tongue-in-cheek references to “Little Red Riding Hood,” from characters’ names and garments to a little cottage in the woods. Well-planted reveals keep the pace up, and the one scene that feels dangerously close to an infodump suddenly twists into a final surprise. Ruby’s character growth is subtle and believable and comes to fruition at the end of the story.
A delightful, action-packed adventure. (content warning) (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9781250864864
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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