Animal husbandry done right for the young reader set.
It’s not every chapter book that features a girl elbow-deep in a sheep’s birthing canal, but Callie Vee’s no ordinary gal.
Although she’s continuing her award-winning middle-grade series (The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, 2009, etc.) with an early chapter-book one, Kelly presents Calpurnia Tate as the same girl with the same problems. Her mother wants her to be a lady when all she wants is to become a naturalist. The year is 1901 (the year after the action of The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate, 2015), and there are other problems besides gender expectations. While studying a Vanessa cardui, or painted lady, Callie discovers a torn wing and must determine if she’s the kind of girl who tries to fix broken butterflies. (Bafflingly, despite the prominence of painted ladies in the story, the butterflies depicted on the cover are monarchs.) Later Callie’s mother’s prized sheep is due to give birth. When complications arise, it’s up to our heroine to save the day using ingenuity and know-how. Callie’s adventures in animal care adapt easily to this format, losing none of the protagonist’s wit and 13-year-old wisdom, though whether older readers will follow her adventures in a younger reading format is open to question. Certainly children without prior knowledge of the older novels will find much to love in Callie’s fight against early-20th-century mores and attitudes, but 13 is an odd age for a chapter-book protagonist.
Animal husbandry done right for the young reader set. (Historical fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62779-870-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Lively fun with animal friends.
Has Plum’s pep deserted him?
Several animals from the Athensville Zoo are on their way to visit an elementary school. Overconfident Itch the ningbing (an Australian marsupial), unaware that zookeeper Lizzie will be doing all the talking, looks forward to “lecturing eager young minds.” Plum, the usually chipper peacock, on the other hand, is anxious—maybe the schoolchildren won’t like him or he’ll get lost. So when they arrive at the school to find the students have been sent home due to a blizzard, Plum is relieved. The animals are left in a school gym for the night until three self-important class mice free them. Itch heads for the library to meet the learned turtle, but Plum reluctantly explores with his friends. When his anxiety peaks, they reassure him, and when the mice reject Meg, another peacock, as “borrrring” and uncool, they buoy her as well before everyone comes together to save Itch, who finds himself outside and stranded in a snowdrift. Unlike Leave It to Plum (2022), this is not a mystery, and the relationship focus shifts from Lizzie to the rodents, but the pace is brisk, and sequel seekers will be pleased to revisit familiar characters (if dismayed that Itch’s longing for knowledge leads to his downfall). In Phelan’s engaging grayscale pen-and-wash illustrations, Lizzie has short curly hair; text and art cue her as Latine.
Lively fun with animal friends. (how to draw Plum) (Chapter book. 7-10)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-06-307920-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
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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