A silly, simple read for middle graders who love dogs, be they hot- or stick-.
Stick Dog’s back and on the hunt for a snack.
Stick Dog and his buddies Mutt, Poo-Poo, Stripes and Karen fondly remember that day in Picasso Park when they got some delicious hamburgers from a family grilling out—they’d like some more, please. After a pleasant game of BARK! at Stick Dog’s house (all the dogs stand around and bark at anything that moves, and barking first scores more points), Stick Dog realizes he is hungry. The rumbling in his belly causes his friends’ bellies to rumble, but over the rumble they hear something else: a bell. After deciding it’s not Santa, a giant cuckoo clock or miniature bell-ringing humans, they discover it is Peter and his frankfurter cart. Each pooch comes up with an outlandish plan to steal the franks, but Stick Dog finds them all flawed. When they agree to his plan, Karen complicates it by becoming trapped in a strange human’s house. Will they ever get those delicious frankfurters? Though Watson’s second Stick Dog romp may appear to be for reluctant or very young readers due to its ample white space and simple illustrations, its vocabulary may frustrate them at times. An expansion of Watson’s self-published Stick Dog Wants a Frankfurter with new illustrations by Long, this features the same foolishness and narrative style as Stick Dog’s first, eponymous outing.
A silly, simple read for middle graders who love dogs, be they hot- or stick-. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-211080-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
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BOOK REVIEW
Certain to steal hearts.
In this follow-up to 2020’s The One and Only Bob, Ruby the elephant is still living at Wildworld Zoological Park and Sanctuary.
She’s apprehensive about her Tuskday, a rite of passage for young elephants when she’ll give a speech in front of the rest of the herd. Luckily, she can confide in her Uncle Ivan, who is next door in Gorilla World, and Uncle Bob, the dog who lives nearby with human friend Julia. Ruby was born in an unspecified part of Africa, later ending up on display in the mall, where she met Ivan, Bob, and Julia. The unexpected arrival of someone from Ruby’s past life on the savanna revives memories both warmly nostalgic and deeply traumatic. An elephant glossary and Castelao’s charming, illustrated guide to elephant body language help immerse readers in Ruby’s world. Goofy, playful, and mischievous Ruby is fully dimensional, as she has shown her bravery during the many hardships of her young life. Applegate deftly tempers themes of grief and loss with compassion and humor as Ruby finds her place in the herd. The author’s note touches on climate change, the illegal ivory trade, and conservation efforts, but the highly emotive framing of the story through the memories of a bewildered baby elephant emphasizes the impact of lines such as “ ‘in Africa,’ I say softly, ‘there were bad people,’ ” without offering readers a nuanced understanding of the broader context that drives poaching.
Certain to steal hearts. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780063080089
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
Another stellar lap—readers will be eager to see who’s next
African-American track phenom Patina Jones takes the baton from Ghost (2016) in the second volume of Reynolds’ Track series for middle graders.
Reynolds tells readers almost all they need to know about Patty in two opening, contrasting scenes. In the first, Patty misjudges her competitors in an 800-meter race she’s certain she should have won. Running well but second is not enough for the ferociously competitive Patty. In the other, she braids her little sister’s hair before church, finishing off each of Maddy’s 30 braids with three beads. She does this every Sunday because their white adoptive mother can’t (“there ain’t no rule book for white people to know how to work with black hair”) and because their birth mother insists they look their best for church. Their father dead and their birth mother’s legs lost to diabetes, the two girls live with their father’s brother and his wife, seeing their mother once a week in an arrangement that’s as imperfect as it is loving and necessary. Writing in Patty’s voice, Reynolds creates a fully dimensional, conflicted character whose hard-earned pragmatism helps her bring her relay team together, negotiate the social dynamics of the all-girls, mostly white private school she attends, and make the best of her unusual family lot. When this last is threatened, readers will ache right alongside her.
Another stellar lap—readers will be eager to see who’s next . (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5018-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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