An energetic and educational dog’s tale.
A nervous boy and an excitable canine bond through dog training.
Charlie’s a good kid…though he barfs whenever he’s anxious, and he’s almost always anxious. As the story starts, he’s spiraling over whether he’s packed a toothbrush for a class trip, and he vomits before even getting on the bus. That incident keeps him home, but, as he despairs while recovering on the sofa, his mom arrives home with a surprise: Ralph, a rescue dog who might be able to help Charlie with his anxiety. Though Ralph is prone to mishaps and hasn’t quite mastered potty training, Charlie embraces him immediately and eagerly assumes responsibility for his care. But it’s not quite enough, and when Charlie’s parents wonder if he’s up for handling the high-strung pup, Charlie marches Ralph straight to training classes. Eventually, Charlie realizes that agility competitions may offer him the opportunity to face his anxiety head-on. At times, the book loses focus, with Charlie’s anxiety getting lost amid the info dump about agility training—course design, terminology, competition rules, and the psychology of pet–owner bonding. Still, Hirsch’s bubbly, action-filled illustrations offer visual interest while remaining easy to follow; dog lovers and kids dealing with similar issues as Charlie's will appreciate this one. Charlie is tan-skinned; his dog-training peers are diverse in terms of age and skin color.
An energetic and educational dog’s tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9781250291950
Page Count: 208
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
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