Fuel for horse-obsessed readers who have finished the Marguerite Henry originals.
Yet another horse series begins.
Though Maddie doesn’t own Cloudy, a Chincoteague pony she rides in weekly lessons, she feels as though she does. She’s part of a small online group of girls who ride ponies originally born on Assateague Island—made famous by Marguerite Henry’s classic Misty of Chincoteague—and loves to exchange posts with them. But now Cloudy’s former owners, who didn’t know much about training horses, are thinking about buying her back from the stable that owns her. Maddie’s distraught. She comes up with various plans to either scare off the former owners or buy Cloudy herself, even though it’s pretty clear her family can’t afford to board a pony. Her online friends offer encouragement but no solutions. That’s OK, though—the problem disappears by itself when the former owners discover new interests, and Maddie’s free to ride with a light heart. Most middle-graders like plots in their novels, as well as defined characters, but hey, these are special Chincoteague ponies—they’re exciting all on their own, for the length of one book at least. If the sequels fail to deliver the plot and characterization of the books this series is based on, though, they will likely drive readers back to Misty and her companions.
Fuel for horse-obsessed readers who have finished the Marguerite Henry originals. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: July 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4814-0337-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
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
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