Eddie is a vibrantly green bug who lives in Ferny Creek Elementary School. Could such a tiny critter become a hero?
After his aunt Min goes missing on a trip to the school’s library, he sets off to rescue her. But it turns out that she doesn’t need rescue quite as much as their school library does. With the librarian on maternity leave, the superintendent brings in wicked, archetypal Ms. Visch (“rhymes with squish”) as her replacement. Her only concern is to get rid of the beloved, welcoming library and replace it with an austere testing center. Since Eddie and Aunt Min can read, the library and its familiar works hold a special place in their hearts. Eddie begins to leave notes on the spines of some of their favorite books, hoping to sway Ms. Visch to make a better choice. Instead, she’s enraged. The children, believing the notes are the work of a much-loved volunteer who died (smiling) in the library, launch an effort to rescue the place, not even knowing why it’s in jeopardy. Bugs are fully rounded characters; people (referred to as Squishers) are just sketched in this bug’s-perspective third-person narrative. Rich with references to familiar tales and accompanied by realistic illustrations by Newbery honoree Jamieson, this effort will charm library lovers and would make a fine read-aloud, as brave, endearing Eddie navigates one terrible peril after another.
An excellent, engaging tale for a broad range of ages. (Fantasy. 5-12)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-244093-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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With Ivan’s movie out this year from Disney, expect great interest—it will be richly rewarded.
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Tiny, sassy Bob the dog, friend of The One and Only Ivan (2012), returns to tell his tale.
Wisecracking Bob, who is a little bit Chihuahua among other things, now lives with his girl, Julia, and her parents. Happily, her father works at Wildworld Zoological Park and Sanctuary, the zoo where Bob’s two best friends, Ivan the gorilla and Ruby the elephant, live, so Bob gets to visit and catch up with them regularly. Due to an early betrayal, Bob doesn’t trust humans (most humans are good only for their thumbs); he fears he’s going soft living with Julia, and he’s certain he is a Bad Dog—as in “not a good representative of my species.” On a visit to the zoo with a storm threatening, Bob accidentally falls into the gorilla enclosure just as a tornado strikes. So that’s what it’s like to fly. In the storm’s aftermath, Bob proves to everyone (and finally himself) that there is a big heart in that tiny chest…and a brave one too. With this companion, Applegate picks up where her Newbery Medal winner left off, and fans will be overjoyed to ride along in the head of lovable, self-deprecating Bob on his storm-tossed adventure. His wry doggy observations and attitude are pitch perfect (augmented by the canine glossary and Castelao’s picture dictionary of dog postures found in the frontmatter). Gorilla Ivan described Julia as having straight, black hair in the previous title, and Castelao's illustrations in that volume showed her as pale-skinned. (Finished art not available for review.)
With Ivan’s movie out this year from Disney, expect great interest—it will be richly rewarded. (afterword) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-299131-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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Hee haw.
32
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The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 29, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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