Funny, warmhearted, and involving, with a timely ecological message.
A sixth grade boy and some friends team up to try to foil a poacher/plant thief in this debut middle-grade novel.
Oxbow Island, off the coast of Portland, Maine, is a special place for Berend “Bear” Houtman, 11. He spends summers there with his grandmother Sally Parker, and he loves its natural beauty. But now sixth grade has begun, and Bear is visiting after being suspended from school for acting out in response to bullying and being betrayed by his former best friend. Bear feels disgraced, but kindness from others—plus the island’s magic—soon improves his mood. While exploring in the woods, Bear is dismayed to find that someone has been uprooting, stealing, and destroying delicate orchids—and worse, setting illegal traps. Honey the Wonder Dog, Sally’s pet, is injured by one such trap, and Bear finds a dead beaver in another. It seems the area’s beaver ponds are being targeted, perhaps on behalf of rich summer residents. Bear forms a bold plan with old friends and new to scout out beaver ponds, catch the trapper, and protect his beloved island. In her novel, Chalmers creates a vivid sense of Oxbow Island and its close-knit, year-round residents. They’re a quirky bunch, coming in a wide range of ages, races, and backgrounds: a 90-year-old woman; a middle-aged black professor; a Hispanic wheelchair user and his daughter; a taxi driver; and a newspaper deliveryman. While the rescue plot is compelling and cheerworthy, it has wider effects. Bear’s investigation doesn’t just benefit plants and animals, it also brings the island community closer. In addition, Bear comes to a new, more mature understanding about the conflict with his ex-friend, with some well-earned reflections on growing up. The chapter head illustrations by Hogan are charming additions.
Funny, warmhearted, and involving, with a timely ecological message.Pub Date: March 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-63381-211-6
Page Count: 197
Publisher: Maine Authors Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Unforgettably quirky, fast-paced fun.
In a race against their enemies, the Porch girls must find a peculiar pearl in order to foil a fiendish plot.
After defeating a monstrous Kyrgalops in The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science (2024), Gertrude, Eugenia, and Dee-Dee Porch find themselves (after a series of madcap events) at Lake Kagloopy’s Purple Pearl Hotel with their mentor, Millicent Quibb. Quibb informs the trio that they must find the titular pearl before the members of their evil mad-scientist rivals, the KRA, do. If they fail, the KRA (whose members include the malevolent mayor, Majestina DeWeen, and her slimy sycophantic lawyer, Ashley Cookie) plans to use the gem to bestow the Gift of Endless Vibrancy on the villainous Talon Sharktūth. Hilarity ensues as the Porches attend the annual Shrimp Ball, encounter Umbrella Turkeys, search for Cloudite (floating cloud rocks), and don invisible but smelly woolen coats. Jokes aside, the girls’ story is intriguing, offering more clues to their mysterious backgrounds and tantalizing tidbits promising later adventures. McKinnon offers bountiful backstory (alongside a running joke to encourage readers to pick up the preceding volume) and enough guffaw-inducing jokes, zany footnotes, and creative jargon to enthrall readers both new and old with her delightful sophomore effort. Mixing humor, found family, and well-wrought worldbuilding, this sequel is a certain crowd pleaser. Final art not seen; in the previous book, the grayscale illustrations showed the girls with varying skin tones.
Unforgettably quirky, fast-paced fun. (appendices) (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9780316555296
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
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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