A disorienting and inconsistent tale of animal friendships.
Two kittens move to a new home and make new friends in Guberman’s children’s novella.
Young felines Meriwether and Camille live with their mother, Pearl, and their siblings. After their brothers and sisters are adopted,Pearl, Camille, and Meriwether move with their human owners to Chattahoochee, Florida. There, they live in a new barn and become involved in various adventures. Guberman’s book has some strong sections early on, such as a sequence in which a river’s fast current whisks the kittens away until a river keeper saves them by extending a tree branch: “Using all their strength, the kittens catch the branch and hold onto its rough bark.” However, things become distractingly fantastical in the book’s latter half. Up to that point, the narrative sticks to semirealistic scenarios, such as Meriwether and Camille’s befriending a cat on a leash, encountering a dog who loves chasing cats, and having a play date with a new feline pal. Even a section involving a bear cub lost from the zoo feels of a piece with what’s been established so far. But after that, the kittens travel to Atlanta, board a blimp at a zoo, and end up in the Amazon rainforest, where they meet an alligator with a rainbow coming out of his mouth—which the kittens use to return to Georgia, where they start attending school. The problem with this story isn’t the inclusion of fantastical elements, per se, but the abruptness with which they’re introduced relatively late in the story. Overall, the story feels convoluted and confusing; indeed, it could have easily been three separate books. Mitchell’s cartoon line drawings at the start of each chapter clearly represent the story’s events.
A disorienting and inconsistent tale of animal friendships.Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2021
ISBN: 9781954805088
Page Count: 99
Publisher: Bold Story Press
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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BOOK REVIEW
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