The believable plot and inherent suspense will keep readers turning the pages of this fine addition to early chapter books,...
With a limited vocabulary perfect for readers just edging into chapter books, the tale of Logan’s efforts to locate his lost dog rings completely true.
After Logan’s parents separate, he and his mother and Border collie, Bear, head for a new home in the suburbs, but Bear gets lost. Shortly afterward, Hannah’s father finds the missing pet in the back of his truck. Hannah is desperate for a pet, but her parents decide to leave the dog at the Rainbow Street Shelter (the name of this new series) to give him his best chance for return to his owners. There Hannah begins volunteering with the animals, recognizing their need for affection. Logan, miserable over leaving his family’s farm and his parents’ break-up, is devastated by the loss of his beloved dog. As his parents try to track down Bear and Hannah’s parents recognize her growing level of responsibility, glimmers of hope appear for both children. While the very brief text, accompanied by frequent attractive black-and-white illustrations, doesn’t give room for extensive character development, the essentials are effectively captured.
The believable plot and inherent suspense will keep readers turning the pages of this fine addition to early chapter books, which will resonate with both pet lovers and children involved in divorces. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8050-8931-8
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2011
Dog training, trauma recovery, and just enough urgency to keep it moving: a quiet pleasure.
A traumatized working dog has one last chance after the death of her handler.
Stella, a bomb-sniffing beagle, has been in three foster homes since the death of her handler, Connie, in an explosion. Now she’s got PTSD, and she panics at loud noises, fire, or being left alone. Unable to do anything for her, the humans plan to euthanize Stella until she receives a last-minute reprieve. An old friend of Connie’s, a world-class dog trainer, decides to take on Stella’s rehabilitation as a favor to her old friend. Through Stella’s doggy point of view (usually, though not entirely, limited to what a dog could theoretically comprehend), readers are introduced to dog training with Esperanza and her 11-year-old daughter, Cloe. Esperanza and Cloe, who come from a Spanish-speaking family background, live in the country with other working dogs, a cat, and sheep. Perhaps in this rural environment Stella can finally recover. As her bond with Cloe grows, Stella learns more about what Cloe’s sometimes-strange smells mean when she first witnesses Cloe have an epileptic seizure. Stella’s narration duly reports all the human conversations she doesn’t understand; combined with Stella’s somewhat anthropomorphized trauma recovery, Cloe’s hopes and fears come through clearly. There’s plenty of training process to please lovers of realistic dog books.
Dog training, trauma recovery, and just enough urgency to keep it moving: a quiet pleasure. (discussion questions) (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-62972-901-5
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
A fast and jolly gambol, with four more promised.
Quest adventure, animal fantasy and baby steampunk all figure into this second madcap romp around the universe with hedgehogs Esmeralda and Trundle.
Aided by cheerful troubadour squirrel Jack Nimble, Trundle and Esmeralda dash from planet to planet in a vast outer-space archipelago, pursued by pirates. Badger Blocks (read: tarot cards) foresaw Trundle and Esmeralda gathering six ancient, hidden crowns that together wield great power; this second installment of six naturally focuses on the second crown, which is made of iron. They travel by skyboat, which resembles an old ocean vessel more than a spaceship: “We have to tack! Release the windward jib sheet.” Steampunky details also include conveniently present or absent gravity and oxygen, gadgets with “swinging pendulums… flickering dials… [and] whirring flywheels” and a massive clock with noisy “cogwheels and levers and hammers.” Animal protagonists are quite human, whether “apple-cheeked” or showing a “face red with wrath.” Jones’ plot is peppy and his prose funny, sporting excellent names—“Pounceman Donk”—and word strings—“the meanest, bloodthirstiest, wickedest pirate ever to sail the skies.” It’s only too bad that steampunk’s gypsy stereotype lives on: “Roamany” is shorthand for exotic, unreliable and greedy.
A fast and jolly gambol, with four more promised. (Steampunk. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-200626-4
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 23, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
