Both exciting and revelatory.
Four 12-year-olds and an 18-month-old have an unexpected adventure in the Montana woods.
Although their parents are close friends and despite having been thrown together socially since they were babies, gymnast Abigail Walters, twins Emerson and Turner Casella, and gamer Baxter Phillips can’t stand each other. The latest parental endeavor, the consequence of the kids’ code of conduct violation and subsequent disqualification from a middle school team competition, involves Baxter’s great-uncle Hornsby. The sixth graders are going to stay with former kids’ camp owner Uncle Hornsby deep in the mountains of Montana for lessons in teamwork. Because the parents are going to Aruba for a vacation during this time, they also leave Baxter’s baby sister, Vivi, who provides sparkling moments of humor. Uncle Hornsby has devised a scavenger hunt for the kids to work out together. It’s winter, and the task tests the kids’ abilities to integrate the survival techniques they find in notes as they pursue clues leading to the final prize—the key to a locked cabin. But things take a dangerous turn when Uncle Hornsby disappears. They must now work together to find him and stay alive themselves. The narrative presents believable moments of danger infused with the protagonists’ unwillingness to cooperate and a well-crafted realization of individual strengths, weaknesses, and friendship. Most characters read white; oblique clues may indicate that Baxter and Vivi’s mom is a person of color.
Both exciting and revelatory. (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780593644126
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
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
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
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