A charming talking-animal tale, with gentle messages about family and the environment.
Two Chihuahuas engage the animals of Bald Head Island, N.C., in a plan to stop illegal turtle-egg traffickers in this playful debut children’s adventure book aimed at dog lovers and budding environmental advocates.
Pampered, curious pups Bennett and Lola join their owner Cora as she retreats to a beach house to write a book about the animals and plants on Bald Head Island. Soon a charismatic mockingbird Moc urges the dogs to see the wonders of the neighborhood: a mean dog named Jug (short for Jugular), intriguing but dangerous alligators, and a big loggerhead turtle mama who lays her eggs on the beach. When the eggs are stolen, the pups take on alternate identities—Chief Inspector Brown and Sergeant Starfoot—and collect a team of animals to follow the egg poachers and alert the local Bald Head Island Conservancy people. Later, the pups must find their way back to Cora after being washed into the ocean and stranded on a beach far from home. The story has no human children as characters—a bit odd for a book targeted to kids—but Bennett’s protective big-sibling relationship with the excitable, recklessly brave Lola shows how sibling rivalry can be superseded by love when it matters most. The story, set in a real location and supported by accurate Conservancy information, can act as an environmental teaching resource, but it also delivers a typical kids’ mystery. The book’s strategically placed advanced vocabulary, understandable in context, makes it a great choice for beginning readers. Its adorable but not cutesy tone and the wittily distinctive voices of its animal characters make it a good candidate for dog-loving parents and children to read together. Energetic illustrations support the story well, though they are forced into quarter-pages, and might have been better served by full-page display.
A charming talking-animal tale, with gentle messages about family and the environment.Pub Date: Dec. 9, 2012
ISBN: 978-1477406175
Page Count: 128
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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