A perfect run of a novel with the heart of a champion.
Never underestimate the underdogs.
375 days. That’s how long it’s been since it rained in the Australian sheep-farming town of Upson Downs. Businesses have shuttered, and multigenerational farms are being gobbled up by the aptly named Earl Robert-Barren. Eleven-year-old Annie Shearer is eager to help her family save their farm. She and former stray dog Runt, who’s her best friend, have an unshakable bond that makes them a skilled herding and agility duo. Yet no one knows that, because Runt freezes when anyone but Annie is watching him. Then an opportunity comes up for Annie and Runt to qualify for the prestigious Krumpet’s Dog Show in London—with a grand prize of $250,000. The Shearer family bands together to bring their hidden talents into the spotlight. The novel reads like a well-designed agility course, complete with engaging challenges and pacing that reward focus as well as speed. Expository chapter headings function as an aperture, offering pleasing wit and levity before jumping into the action. Obstacles posed by the aforementioned land-grabber and a peacocking pedigreed-dog handler heighten the tension as the stakes rise. Annie and Runt are the main attractions, and their relationships with the other scrappy Shearer family members—especially Annie’s aspiring botanist dad—are authentically drawn and lovingly flawed, making them easy to cheer on and adding depth to a beautiful, rewarding narrative that’s a fresh addition to the genre. Main characters read white.
A perfect run of a novel with the heart of a champion. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9780593703632
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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
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