An adventure-filled tale set within a fascinating period of history.
Historical fiction for dog lovers.
Nome, Alaska, 1900, is a hotbed of lawless gold-rush fever and no place for an unaccompanied woman and her 11-year-old daughter, but that is exactly where Sally and her mother find themselves. The story is told from the point of view of Murphy, an abused sled dog who runs away from his owner in Nome and wanders homeless and hungry until Sally, newly arrived from Seattle, encounters him and convinces Mama that Murphy would be good protection for them. Murphy happily settles into his new life as a loved member of the family, and he does his best to protect them, but he is plagued by thoughts of cowardice brought on by his previous owner’s mistreatment. As summer ends, Mama makes plans to leave, finding life in Nome too difficult. But Sally has plans of her own. Taking Murphy, she runs away to find gold, thinking to ease the working grind of her Mama’s life. Readers will feel the thrill of survival on the tundra as Murphy saves Sally from a grizzly, an avalanche and unscrupulous men. Equal parts heart-wrenching and -warming, the story never slides into cloying sentimentality, and its message of the value of love over greed is as subtle as it is powerful.
An adventure-filled tale set within a fascinating period of history. (historical note, bibliography, further reading) (Historical fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-56145-769-4
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading.
When Franklin School principal Mr. Boone announces a pet-show fundraiser, white third-grader Cody—whose lack of skill and interest in academics is matched by keen enthusiasm for and knowledge of animals—discovers his time to shine.
As with other books in this series, the children and adults are believable and well-rounded. Even the dialogue is natural—no small feat for a text easily accessible to intermediate readers. Character growth occurs, organically and believably. Students occasionally, humorously, show annoyance with teachers: “He made mad squinty eyes at Mrs. Molina, which fortunately she didn’t see.” Readers will be kept entertained by Cody’s various problems and the eventual solutions. His problems include needing to raise $10 to enter one of his nine pets in the show (he really wants to enter all of them), his troublesome dog Angus—“a dog who ate homework—actually, who ate everything and then threw up afterward”—struggles with homework, and grappling with his best friend’s apparently uncaring behavior toward a squirrel. Serious values and issues are explored with a light touch. The cheery pencil illustrations show the school’s racially diverse population as well as the memorable image of Mr. Boone wearing an elephant costume. A minor oddity: why does a child so immersed in animal facts call his male chicken a rooster but his female chickens chickens?
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-30223-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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