An engaging, though didactic, mystery for chapter-book readers who can’t get enough animal stories.
The latest installment in the Animal Rescue Center series metes out a lesson on not jumping to conclusions.
During cleanup after a pair of unruly Dalmatians run amok in Grandpa’s garden center, Ella Harrison discovers a live hamster in a trash bin. She’s furious; who’d leave a poor, defenseless creature in the garbage? After christening the hamster Hamlet, Ella makes it her mission to find out who left the little guy in the rubbish. It’s not long before she has her suspect. It has to be the Dalmatians’ human girl, Katie. After all, Katie is new in town, and Ella sees her lurking everywhere she goes—apparently eavesdropping—and there’s a discarded hamster cage in Katie’s house. Ella is dead set on outing Katie as the culprit, but Grandpa advises her not to make hasty assumptions and to befriend Katie instead. As the new kid in the neighborhood, she’s probably lonely: “How would you feel if you were her?” Grandpa asks. It turns out Grandpa is right: Katie is shy, and she’s still grieving the loss of her recently deceased hamster, Daisy. Now that Hamlet needs a home, can Ella trust Katie to take care of him? It’s a straightforwardly told tale, expressly pitched to an animal-loving audience, with nuance in its character development mostly conveyed through dialogue. Occasional black-and-white illustrations depict an all-white cast.
An engaging, though didactic, mystery for chapter-book readers who can’t get enough animal stories. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68010-419-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading.
When Franklin School principal Mr. Boone announces a pet-show fundraiser, white third-grader Cody—whose lack of skill and interest in academics is matched by keen enthusiasm for and knowledge of animals—discovers his time to shine.
As with other books in this series, the children and adults are believable and well-rounded. Even the dialogue is natural—no small feat for a text easily accessible to intermediate readers. Character growth occurs, organically and believably. Students occasionally, humorously, show annoyance with teachers: “He made mad squinty eyes at Mrs. Molina, which fortunately she didn’t see.” Readers will be kept entertained by Cody’s various problems and the eventual solutions. His problems include needing to raise $10 to enter one of his nine pets in the show (he really wants to enter all of them), his troublesome dog Angus—“a dog who ate homework—actually, who ate everything and then threw up afterward”—struggles with homework, and grappling with his best friend’s apparently uncaring behavior toward a squirrel. Serious values and issues are explored with a light touch. The cheery pencil illustrations show the school’s racially diverse population as well as the memorable image of Mr. Boone wearing an elephant costume. A minor oddity: why does a child so immersed in animal facts call his male chicken a rooster but his female chickens chickens?
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-30223-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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