Snowy fun and suspense Down East.
The sight of a lynx kitten wearing a collar in the wintry Maine woods catalyzes a host of increasingly dangerous escapades for Cooper, Packrat, and friends.
Fans of aspiring game warden Cooper Wilder and his friend Packrat—whose useful collection of miscellany resides in his jacket’s many pockets—will enjoy following the boys as their attention turns from setting up (with friends Roy and Summer) the premier winter festival at the Wilder family’s campground to learning about a probable fur poacher nearby. When dog-sledder Wynter and her mother show up, the friends are torn between welcoming Wynter and distrusting her mother’s questionable behavior. Warden Kate proves a reliable female role model as each short, accessible chapter skillfully weaves information—including descriptions of lynx habits and laws protecting them, the mechanics of ice-fishing, building a snow fort, the sport of skijoring (which involves being pulled by a dog while wearing cross-country skis), and the difference between legal trapping and illegal poaching—into a suspenseful tale. First-person narrator Cooper’s voice is believable as a young teen who is both daring and mostly responsible—and who is starting to feel a change in his feelings toward his friend Summer. Part of the fun for readers is trying to outguess Cooper’s changing assessments as the clues pile up. Stylized, grayscale spot art is appropriately lighthearted and reassuring. All characters follow a White default.
Snowy fun and suspense Down East. (Mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: June 21, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-952143-36-6
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Islandport Press
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The whimsy is slight—the story is not—and both its interest and its vocabulary are for the youngest members of this age...
Beverly Cleary has written all kinds of books (the most successful ones about the irrepressible Henry Huggins) but this is her first fantasy.
Actually it's plain clothes fantasy grounded in the everyday—except for the original conceit of a mouse who can talk and ride a motorcycle. A toy motorcycle, which belongs to Keith, a youngster, who comes to the hotel where Ralph lives with his family; Ralph and Keith become friends, Keith gives him a peanut butter sandwich, but finally Ralph loses the motorcycle—it goes out with the dirty linen. Both feel dreadfully; it was their favorite toy; but after Keith gets sick, and Ralph manages to find an aspirin for him in a nearby room, and the motorcycle is returned, it is left with Ralph....
The whimsy is slight—the story is not—and both its interest and its vocabulary are for the youngest members of this age group. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 1965
ISBN: 0380709244
Page Count: 180
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 16, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1965
BOOK TO SCREEN
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