RESCUE TAILS

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.