A solid eco-mystery that will please lovers of nature and science fiction alike.
A girl goes on a quest to rescue her parents and animal friends from an evil plot.
Hiding out in the near-future “Perfect. Animal. Worlds.” (or PAW) Biosphere, 11-year-old Hazel McCrimlisk hopes that learning to speak with the animals will help her locate her scientist parents, who were mysteriously abducted by a monster just over a year ago. Traveling between the different ecosystem-based biodomes created by Dr. Henry Nimick, Hazel becomes adept at speaking with different species. She’s assisted by Nina, a genetically modified miniature elephant, and her friend Alex Silva, whose gender isn’t specified. On the fateful day when they stumble upon Dr. Nimick, who’s presenting his genetically modified beasts to biosphere visitors, they’re propelled into a whirlwind adventure filled with giant carnivorous flowers, an old woman who morphs into a jaguar, a helpful goat, and more. When the trio, along with a courageous team of creatures, discover Laboratory 2044, located in a secret biosphere, they’re thrust into a showdown with the terrible perpetrators of Hazel’s parents’ kidnapping. The black line art alternates between shading in purple for the main storyline and green for flashbacks. The somewhat stiff imagery moves the storyline along satisfactorily, giving the quirky and occasionally humorous animals their time in the spotlight and supporting the sometimes wooden dialogue. Hazel and Alex are racially ambiguous, and Dr. Nimick presents white.
A solid eco-mystery that will please lovers of nature and science fiction alike. (map) (Graphic mystery. 8-12)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9798875000584
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
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
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
© 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.
