A nostalgic story that will appeal to lovers of old-fashioned tales.
In 1891 Australia, a girl grieving the loss of her parents bonds with a shipwrecked rhinoceros.
Evie, 10, hasn’t spoken since her parents died at sea two years ago. She lives with her ornithologist grandfather in “crumbling” Lunar House in a remote corner of the state of Victoria, where they are tended by Cook (their housekeeper) and Mr. Duffer (their farmhand). Evie has a preternatural affinity for animals, so when she comes across Rhino stranded on the beach, she’s unafraid and leads him home to the stables. Rhino’s an astonishingly agreeable fellow and quickly endears himself to the household, even going so far as to help Cook with the laundry. Nevertheless, Grandpa telegraphs the authorities and learns Rhino had been bound for the Royal Melbourne Zoo, which dispatches a representative to retrieve him. Evie frets over the prospect of losing Rhino, and Grandpa frets over the effect his loss will have on Evie. Basing her tale on a real incident, the shipwreck of the SS Bancoora, McMullin’s cozy adventure of interspecies love and healing has the sentimental feel of children’s literature of yore. Rhino’s cloying adoration of “the golden-haired human child” is only slightly tempered by his appealing earthiness. The human characters read white, and, underscoring the social class differences, the servants’ speech is rendered phonetically (“Yer drenched. Come on, let’s git yer changed”). Hicks’ grayscale drawings punctuate the text.
A nostalgic story that will appeal to lovers of old-fashioned tales. (author's note, recipe) (Historical fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9781761600302
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Walker Books Australia
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale.
After a tsunami devastates their habitat in the Salish Sea, a young orca and her brother embark on a remarkable adventure.
Vega’s matriarchal family expects her to become a hunter and wayfinder, with her younger brother, Deneb, protecting and supporting her. Invited to guide her family to their Gathering Place to hunt salmon, Vega’s underwater miscalculations endanger them all, and an embarrassed Vega questions whether she should be a wayfinder. When the baby sister she hoped would become her life companion is stillborn, a distraught Vega carries the baby away to a special resting place, shocking her grieving family. Dispatched to find his missing sister, Deneb locates Vega in the midst of a terrible tsunami. To escape the waters polluted by shattered boats, Vega leads Deneb into unfamiliar open sea. Alone and hungry, the young siblings encounter a spectacular giant whale and travel briefly with shark-hunting orcas. Trusting her instincts and gaining emotional strength from contemplating the vastness of the sky, Vega knows she must lead her brother home and help save her surviving family. In alternating first-person voices, Vega and Deneb tell their harrowing story, engaging young readers while educating them about the marine ecosystem. Realistic black-and-white illustrations enhance the maritime setting.
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale. (maps, wildlife facts, tribes of the Salish Sea watershed, environmental and geographical information, how to help orcas, author’s note, artist’s note, resources) (Animal fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-299592-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
