A dog's tale with enough imagination to forgive its fleas.
This young adult book follows a precocious, rural dog named Button and her diverse group of animal friends as they journey from exploring nature to waging war.
Basically a series of short stories connected by Button, the book starts with the canine meeting Ssserek the snake while playing outside. The two get to know one another, comparing fangs and discussing Ssserek's lack of legs. Then Button runs into her other comrades, including Isaiah the skunk, Beulah the opossum, Pip the bird, Ignatius the squirrel, Ms. Lucie the sparrow and Rarebit the frog. Unfortunately, the introduction of these underdeveloped characters starts to read like a list comprised of almost indistinct personalities. But when Sally the beagle and Button go "trap-hunting" (the animal equivalent of searching for explosives in a minefield) things pick up steam. And when Delph the alligator attacks the two dogs, gets caught in a trap and then befriends them both when they–along with the help of Milo the moose–save him, the story nicely drives home the value of cooperation. By the time all the creatures, including Biff the bear, join forces to battle the rats, this inventive book has overcome its poor man's The Wind in the Willows beginnings and has drawn in the reader. Leech more specifically draws later arrivals such as the snobby J. Wellington Blackbird and the dragon Princess Vintrix Sarandra (who drives out the evil rodents), while Mommy Kitty's travails bring some Charlotte’s Web sadness to the tale. When Button fights the nefarious rats that are in cahoots with the raven to save Sally, we're truly concerned with the beagle's welfare. While the story could use some tightening–many scenes seem repetitive, stuck in a loop of introducing characters followed by overcoming obstacles–there’s a lovely, nostalgic, handmade quality to the book that harkens back to a more innocent, immediate time. Presenting a protagonist who learns about the world through actually exploring it firsthand sends a quality message indeed.
A dog's tale with enough imagination to forgive its fleas.Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4415-9174-6
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Troubled teen meets totemic catalyst in Mikaelsen’s (Petey, 1998, etc.) earnest tribute to Native American spirituality. Fifteen-year-old Cole is cocky, embittered, and eaten up by anger at his abusive parents. After repeated skirmishes with the law, he finally faces jail time when he viciously beats a classmate. Cole’s parole officer offers him an alternative—Circle Justice, an innovative justice program based on Native traditions. Sentenced to a year on an uninhabited Arctic island under the supervision of Edwin, a Tlingit elder, Cole provokes an attack from a titanic white “Spirit Bear” while attempting escape. Although permanently crippled by the near-death experience, he is somehow allowed yet another stint on the island. Through Edwin’s patient tutoring, Cole gradually masters his rage, but realizes that he needs to help his former victims to complete his own healing. Mikaelsen paints a realistic portrait of an unlikable young punk, and if Cole’s turnaround is dramatic, it is also convincingly painful and slow. Alas, the rest of the characters are cardboard caricatures: the brutal, drunk father, the compassionate, perceptive parole officer, and the stoic and cryptic Native mentor. Much of the plot stretches credulity, from Cole’s survival to his repeated chances at rehabilitation to his victim being permitted to share his exile. Nonetheless, teens drawn by the brutality of Cole’s adventures, and piqued by Mikaelsen’s rather muscular mysticism, might absorb valuable lessons on anger management and personal responsibility. As melodramatic and well-meaning as the teens it targets. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2001
ISBN: 0-380-97744-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
A well-loved author brings together, on a Maine vacation, characters from two of her books. Peter's parents have assured him that though Sheila ("The Great") Tubman and her family will be nearby, they'll have their own house; but instead, they find a shared arrangement in which the two families become thoroughly intertwined—which suits everyone but the curmudgeonly Peter. Irrepressible little brother Fudge, now five, is planning to marry Sheila, who agrees to babysit with Peter's toddler sister; there's a romance between the grandparents in the two families; and the wholesome good fun, including a neighborhood baseball game featuring an aging celebrity player, seems more important than Sheila and Peter's halfhearted vendetta. The story's a bit tame (no controversies here), but often amusingly true to life and with enough comic episodes to satisfy fans.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1990
ISBN: 0-525-44672-9
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
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