A sensitive exploration of autism, gender identity, and dog training.
Upon their first meeting, B knows rescue dog Gooseberry is meant for them. Will their new foster parents agree?
Twelve-year-old B has lived unhappily in various foster homes since their parents’ deaths. Nonbinary, trans, and undecided on their new name, B also grapples with their emotional, anxious, neurodiverse brain. At school, B endures queerphobic bullying and academic struggles but has a tight friend group. When Humane Society runaway Gooseberry charges in to comfort a crying B at a block party, B knows it’s fate. Fortunately, B’s new foster moms, Jodie and Eri, agree. After all, B’s dream is to be a dog trainer. Gooseberry tests B to their limits—hiding, snapping, and escaping—but B also has more to learn about dog training than they realized. B refuses to give up, though, and Jodie and Eri refuse to give up on B. Evocative metaphors illuminate B’s thought processes for readers as B wrestles with a world that’s not calibrated for their autism or their gender identity. Gooseberry is often B’s emotional mirror, benefiting as much from B’s devotion as B benefits from having accepting, supportive parents. Readers might be surprised, however, that the Humane Society would adopt out a highly reactive dog to inexperienced dog owners with a rule-breaking kid. B and their foster moms seem to be white, and Eri is trans; there’s racial and gender diversity among the supporting cast.
A sensitive exploration of autism, gender identity, and dog training. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 14, 2024
ISBN: 9781419764424
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Not the most satisfying wrap-up, but it’s always good to spend time in the world of this series.
Beloved gorilla Ivan becomes a father to rambunctious twins in this finale to a quartet that began with 2012’s Newbery Award–winning The One and Only Ivan.
Life hasn’t always been easy for silverback gorilla Ivan, who’s spent most of his life being mistreated in captivity. Now he’s living in a wildlife sanctuary, but he still gets to see his two best friends. Young elephant Ruby lives in the grassy habitat next door, and former stray dog Bob has a home with one of the zookeepers. All three were rescued from the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. Ivan’s expanded world includes fellow gorilla Kinyani—the two are about to become parents, and Ivan is revisiting the traumas of his past in light of what he wants the twins to know. When the subject inevitably comes up, Applegate’s trust and respect for readers is evident. She doesn’t shy away from hard truths as Ivan wrestles with the fact that poachers killed his family. Readers will need the context provided by knowledge of the earlier books to feel the full emotional impact of this story. The rushed ending unfortunately falls flat, detracting from the central message that a complex life can still contain hope. Final art not seen.
Not the most satisfying wrap-up, but it’s always good to spend time in the world of this series. (gorilla games, glossary, author’s note) (Verse fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9780063221123
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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