Complex, timely, and deeply moving.
Fairy penguins have always been safe on their island off the coast of Western Australia, but something frightening is happening.
The tale unfolds in alternating chapters, each focusing on one of the three protagonists. Twelve-year-old homeschooled Addie lives by the beach with her overprotective widower dad and beloved dog, Max. Imaginative and sometimes lonely, she can be impulsive and daring, especially if her beloved sea creatures are at risk. Fortunately, Addie finds like-minded friends and mentors through her youth environmental group. Max follows Addie closely, bringing his own special canine abilities and insights and overcoming his fears to help protect the penguins they befriend. Then there is tiny penguin Darwin, a misfit and loner who’s the first to recognize the escalating dangers to his colony; though he has difficulty communicating his concerns to the other penguins, he’s determined to find a solution. Climate change is contributing to the ability of predator foxes to reach the island via a path newly opened by extreme low tides, putting the vulnerable fairy penguins in peril. Each chapter overlaps just a bit, with clues and epiphanies that move the action forward slowly at first, later building to a rapid, heart-stopping crescendo. Aided by Addie’s TikTok videos, an international community of viewers, and a strategy generated by Addie, Max, and Darwin, the colony is saved—at least for now. Despite being of different species, the protagonists are devoted to each other, and their cause will capture readers’ hearts.
Complex, timely, and deeply moving. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9781338893250
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 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
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
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
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