A hilarious tale about canine care and political differences.
In this chapter book, a girl learns what it means to own a pooch as she tries to find the courage to scoop the dog’s poop.
Maya Union, a brown-skinned girl, and her family live in an “Island Nation” where dogs are a novelty. The island’s inhabitants—the Puddin’ Heads and the Sweeties—know nothing about canines and their care. Nevertheless, an American official ships a bunch of puppies to the island, who are adopted by the Puddin’ Heads. On this island, devotion to Puddin’ Head or Sweetie identity is essential. Kosmos’ children’s story about dog care and political orientation opens with a close friend, Lily, visiting Maya to see her newly adopted puppy, Waggers. Maya’s sister, Blaze, a “football and rock star,” is going on tour soon and the Union family plans to accompany her. Maya begs to remain home to care for Waggers or for Lily’s family to take the dog and both girls. But as Sweeties, Lily’s parents refuse. They believe that “puppies are for Puddin’ Heads, not Sweeties.” As a result, Maya, Lily, and Waggers must spend a week with the dreaded Uncle Kal, who prides himself on his brand-new MegaCorp lawn, an innovative product that needs to establish its roots. But while dealing with her uncle’s pristine lawn and his neighborhood’s strong Puddin’ Head identity, Maya learns she must find a place for Waggers’ poop. She considers several options—even the idea of training the puppy notto poop—and realizes that locating a new lawn for the dog is the solution. But after an eye-opening neighborhood adventure, Maya concludes that she might have to scoop the poop after all. Following Kosmos’ Blaze Union and the Puddin’ Head Schools (2023), this series opener starring Maya deftly captures the childhood spirit that comes with owning a dog. It does a remarkable job of teaching responsibility in an amusing way. The tale also smoothly integrates canine care, an engaging narrative, and political differences, with humor the common thread. Featuring compact illustrations by Mullins, the work manages to celebrate diversity without being didactic. Although some readers may want more details about Maya’s stay with Uncle Kal, the story ends with a funny, smart surprise, allowing the audience to imagine what will happen next.
A hilarious tale about canine care and political differences.Pub Date: Dec. 7, 2023
ISBN: 979-8988315148
Page Count: 89
Publisher: Wise Wit Press, LLC
Review Posted Online: Dec. 19, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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
© Copyright 2024 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.
