A solid choice for school and public libraries, with special appeal for animal lovers.
Throughout history, animals working with humans have played important roles in human warfare.
The author of Dogs at War (2017) broadens her look at the use of animals in war by introducing other species—elephants, horses, mules, camels, pigeons, and marine mammals—as well as animal mascots, experimental subjects, and 21st-century considerations of animal rights. Teen readers may particularly enjoy the specific stories, but they might learn something of world history in the process. Goldsmith (Pandemic, 2018, etc.) opens with the example of Judy, a dog who rescued drowning British POWs and stayed with one in prison camp until the end of World War II. Like many of the animals introduced, Judy won Britain’s Dickin Medal for animal heroism. In chapters generally focused on specific species, she discusses the roles animals played historically as well as today and mentions current use of bomb-sniffing rats and drone-attacking eagles. Quotations from handlers attest to the animals’ strong connections with humans and their importance in these roles. Each spread includes a well-captioned photograph and plentiful section heads to break up the text. Occasionally, specific examples are set off on a differently designed page. Extensive backmatter includes suggestions for further exploration of the topic in varied formats.
A solid choice for school and public libraries, with special appeal for animal lovers. (source notes, glossary, selected bibliography, further information, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5124-9804-2
Page Count: 140
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
Congolese-American Sophie makes a harrowing trek through a war-torn jungle to protect a young bonobo.
On her way to spend the summer at the bonobo sanctuary her mother runs, 14-year-old Sophie rescues a sickly baby bonobo from a trafficker. Though her Congolese mother is not pleased Sophie paid for the ape, she is proud that Sophie works to bond with Otto, the baby. A week before Sophie's to return home to her father in Miami, her mother must take advantage
of a charter flight to relocate some apes, and she leaves Sophie with Otto and the sanctuary workers. War breaks out, and after missing a U.N. flight out, Sophie must hide herself and Otto from violent militants and starving villagers. Unable to take Otto out of the country, she decides finding her mother hundreds of miles to the north is her only choice. Schrefer jumps from his usual teen suspense to craft this well-researched tale of jungle survival set during a fictional conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Realistic characters (ape and human) deal with disturbing situations described in graphic, but never gratuitous detail. The lessons Sophie learns about her childhood home, love and what it means to be endangered will resonate with readers.
Even if some hairbreadth escapes test credulity, this is a great next read for fans of our nearest ape cousins or survival adventure. (map, author's note, author Q&A) (Adventure. 12-16)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-16576-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In either iteration, a provocative counter to conventional, blinkered views of our national story.
A classic framing of this country’s history from a multicultural perspective, clumsily cut and recast into more simplified language for young readers.
Veering away from the standard “Master Narrative” to tell “the story of a nation peopled by the world,” the violence- and injustice-laden account focuses on minorities, from African- Americans (“the central minority throughout our country’s history”), Mexicans and Native Americans to Japanese, Vietnamese, Sikh, Russian Jewish and Muslim immigrants. Stefoff reduces Takaki’s scholarly but fluid narrative (1993, revised 2008) to choppy sentences and sound-bite quotes. She also adds debatable generalizations, such as a sweeping claim that Native Americans “lived outside of white society’s borders,” and an incorrect one that the Emancipation Proclamation “freed the slaves.” Readers may take a stronger interest in their own cultural heritage from this broad picture of the United States as, historically, a tapestry of ethnic identities that are “separate but also shared”—but being more readable and, by page count at least, only about a third longer, the original version won’t be out of reach of much of the intended audience, despite its denser prose.
In either iteration, a provocative counter to conventional, blinkered views of our national story. (endnotes, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-60980-416-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Seven Stories
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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