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CLARA POOLE AND THE LONG WAY ROUND

Name: CLARA POOLE AND THE LONG WAY ROUND
Author: Taylor Tyng
ISBN: 9781645951599

From the Clara Poole series , Vol. 1

by Taylor Tyng ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 4, 2023

An engrossing and inventive flight through the skies.

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When her science experiment goes awry, Clara receives international attention—and an invitation to join a race that circles the globe.

After her mother’s death, 12-year-old Clara Poole tried to become the “safe version” of herself to please her cautious father. Then, while floating above the ground at the end-of-school-year fair in a plastic lawn chair lifted by hundreds of balloons, Clara has a thought: She could descend to earth—or she could go higher. Cutting her tether, Clara soars away over Michigan. When she lands, Clara is greeted by reporters, grounded by her father, and invited to join the World Organization of Balloon Aeronauts on their 100th air race. Consisting of 10 stages, including an endurance trial over the Sahara and a hunt for flags among the rocky cliffs of Mount Kailash in Tibet, the race is notoriously dangerous and completely thrilling. Partnered with a seasoned aeronaut and three monkey co-pilots, Clara learns the temperamental art of ballooning while navigating new friendships and scheming competitors. Invented elements, like the use of a flusterboard to travel between balloons, exist alongside references to genuine landmarks, creating a fantastical world that feels wholly possible. Most main characters, including Clara, are assumed White. Aeronaut teams represent their countries; Clara forms notable friendships with the Hoshis from Japan and the Jollys from India.

An engrossing and inventive flight through the skies. (Adventure. 8-12)

Pub Date: July 4, 2023

ISBN: 9781645951599

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Pixel+Ink

Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

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THE WILD ROBOT PROTECTS

From the Wild Robot series , Vol. 3

by Peter Brown ; illustrated by Peter Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 2023

Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION

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TUCK EVERLASTING

by Natalie Babbitt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1975

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...

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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.

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the first week in August when this takes place to "the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning") help to justify the extravagant early assertion that had the secret about to be revealed been known at the time of the action, the very earth "would have trembled on its axis like a beetle on a pin." (Fantasy. 9-11)