“Who’s coming with me?” asks the brave duckling. Readers will.
This magical fable of courage and difference continues after Hans Christian Andersen’s original tale leaves off.
Once upon a time, a mother duck discovers an unusual egg in her nest that hatches a very different sort of duckling. Gray and different, the “raincloud-duckling” is rejected by all the animals on the farm, including her mother. Her life is a landscape of both cruelty and kindness: Mocked by strangers, besieged by hunters and their dogs, greeted by friends (who are then lost), and rescued from the ice, she wanders in the wilderness alone before finally realizing that she, too is a thing of beauty. However, while the original fairy tale ends there, this one continues with a final twist as the raincloud-duckling—now the “raincloud-snow-white-duckling-swan”—grapples with ideas of trust, love, friendship, kindness, and belonging. At long last she emerges not a misfit, but rather a hero and adventurer, deciding that it is better to “risk cruelty if it also means taking a chance on kindness.” The silhouette-style art fills the margins of the story, occasionally expanding to emphasize important moments in the narrative. This story asks young readers to think about complexity—both of belonging and of how unkindness and forgiveness are possible.
“Who’s coming with me?” asks the brave duckling. Readers will. (Picture book. 8-14)Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64259-575-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Haymarket Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
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
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.
If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?
For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.
Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
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