What it lacks in story, it makes up for in information.
Another day, another wild animal rescue!
Stacy wakes up and goes to school, where Mathilda Lemming makes fun of her mud-covered outfits. But when you live in a cave with a pack of wolves who use their supernatural abilities to rescue other animals, fashion isn’t a priority! That afternoon, Milo the bat arrives with a message about a baby ocelot in distress. So Stacy sets out with Basil, a wolf who has super-speed, which comes in handy as they travel from their taiga home to the Pantanal of South America. On their trip, they encounter many native animals, including an axolotl, a poison dart frog, a sloth, a harpy eagle, and an anaconda. Finally, they reach a ruinous tower laced with traps—will they be able to save the baby ocelot? Stacy’s journal entries are packed with noteworthy nature facts (some gathered from the library books she grabbed before they left) and vocabulary, supported by the cartoonish but enlightening illustrations. The narrative mostly serves as a vehicle for the educational aspects, making this title ideal for young readers looking for entertaining research. As in YouTuber StacyPlays’ previous series Wild Rescuers, there’s no explanation for why the animals have these abilities or can understand this particular human. Characters’ races and ethnicities aren’t mentioned; in the grayscale art, Stacy appears to be tan-skinned, and Mathilda is lighter-skinned.
What it lacks in story, it makes up for in information. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2024
ISBN: 9780063224995
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
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