Two quarrelsome but close mice suffer narrow squeaks in this tongue-in-cheek series opener. Looking for a new home as safe and well-stocked as the deli where they were born, sibs Molly and Jake find an odd “store” with playground equipment in the “parking lot.” While plump Jake goes off to look for another entrance, Molly wiggles through a crack in the wall, and soon finds herself being squired around a dark third-grade classroom by genial Gino the gerbil, ghost of a recently deceased class pet. Meanwhile, what with all-too-close encounters with Big Gray the cat (“I always get my mouse”) and a barn owl named Hooter, Jake’s having a much harder time of it. Asch switches scenes in alternate chapters, ending Jake’s with cliffhangers and lacing Molly’s with happy wonder as she meets other (living) class mascots and learns how to use another kind of mouse to surf the Internet. Ultimately, Jake and Big Gray enter the room at nearly the same time, setting the stage for a hilariously different game of cat-and-mouse. With Kanzler’s charming sketches providing a mouse’s-eye view, events hurtle along to a doubtless temporary standoff that sees Big Gray hauled outside by the teacher, while Jake and Molly, in a comfy hideout behind the class’s walls, peer out into a once-limited world considerably expanded by new thoughts and experiences. Young readers will be eager to see what develops in future episodes. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-689-84653-3
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2002
The author of Babe, the Gallant Pig (1985) offers another winner with this tale of a bright pig and her canny young keeper “training” a spoiled princess. When Princess Penelope demands a pig for her eighth birthday, her over-indulgent father requires every pig keeper in the country to assemble with a likely porcine candidate. The princess settles on Lollipop, who turns out to be the sole possession of penniless orphan Johnny Skinner. As only Johnny can get Lollipop to sit, roll over, or poop outdoors, soon lad and pig are comfortably ensconced together in a royal stall—at least until the pig can be persuaded to respond to the Princess’s commands. It’s only the beginning of a meteoric rise for Johnny, and for Lollipop too, as the two conspire to teach the princess civilized manners, and end up great favorites of the entire royal family. Barton (Rattletrap Car, p. 504, etc.) captures Penelope’s fuming, bratty character perfectly in a generous array of line drawings, and gives Lollipop an expression of affectionate amusement that will win over readers as effortlessly as it wins over the princess and her parents. Move over, Wilbur. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7636-1269-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2001
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
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