“There’s things you’ve seen and things you may not have, but there ain’t nothing that’s impossible, sugar,” says a village...
Nashville, who has qualities both human and birdlike, feels compelled to follow his avian destiny.
The storytelling is folksy, poetic and seductive, beginning, “Nashville and his family lived in a house perched in the branches of the largest pecan tree in the village of Goosepimple.” Little by little, readers learn how Nashville, unlike his adoring younger sister, Junebug, was hatched from an egg. He has a beak and feathers but, alas, no wings. Morstad’s illustrations support the funnier details, including the dinner-table “perch swings” that Nashville’s mother has installed “to make Nashville more comfortable” as he eats his seeds while his family eats typical human fare. The deadpan humor of Flat Stanley is invoked when Nashville’s parents take him for his annual physical examination—at the veterinarian’s office. In added playfulness, said vet is Dr. Larkin; the village teacher is Miss Starling. This allegory of growing up and finding one’s figurative wings is told sweetly and without great angst, despite inclusions of such subjects as school bullying and Nashville’s empathetic but highly illegal pet-store shenanigans. Yet there is an underlying melancholy throughout, somewhat mitigated by the possibility of future communications from the appealing bird-boy.
“There’s things you’ve seen and things you may not have, but there ain’t nothing that’s impossible, sugar,” says a village widow; readers will end the book with a new sense of possible. (Magical realism. 8-11)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3867-6
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
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
Epic lunacy.
Will extragalactic rats eat the moon?
Can a cybernetic toenail clipper find a worthy purpose in the vast universe? Will the first feline astronaut ever get a slice of pizza? Read on. Reworked from the Live Cartoon series of homespun video shorts released on Instagram in 2020 but retaining that “we’re making this up as we go” quality, the episodic tale begins with the electrifying discovery that our moon is being nibbled away. Off blast one strong, silent, furry hero—“Meow”—and a stowaway robot to our nearest celestial neighbor to hook up with the imperious Queen of the Moon and head toward the dark side, past challenges from pirates on the Sea of Tranquility and a sphinx with a riddle (“It weighs a ton, but floats on air. / It’s bald but has a lot of hair.” The answer? “Meow”). They endure multiple close but frustratingly glancing encounters with pizza and finally deliver the malign, multiheaded Rat King and its toothy armies to a suitable fate. Cue the massive pizza party! Aside from one pirate captain and a general back on Earth, the human and humanoid cast in Harris’ loosely drawn cartoon panels, from the appropriately moon-faced queen on, is light skinned. Merch, music, and the original episodes are available on an associated website.
Epic lunacy. (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-308408-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
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