Fast-paced adventure with a lot of charm.
Ra is Pharaoh’s Cat, exalted, proud, pampered, and very lazy.
He lives for naps and snacks and views physical activity with horror. His friend Khepri, a scarab beetle, tries to get him moving, but to no avail. When Miu, a lowly kitchen cat, begs him to use his knowledge of the palace’s secrets to help Tedimut, a young human girl falsely accused of stealing an amulet, he declines, appalled at the possibility of missing his next snack. Shamed into helping, he leads the way through the intricacies of the palace. They find Tedimut’s hiding place, and after hearing her story, Ra decides to be the lead detective, with Khepri as his sidekick, to find the real thief. They track clues throughout the palace and get help from Aat, the Great Wife’s leopard; Bebi, the pet baboon of Pharaoh’s mother; and others. Overheard conversations, palace intrigue, chases, and loads of red herrings come into play before they find the surprise culprit and solve the mystery. Greenfield’s tone is generally lighthearted, but there is an undertone concerning the nature of power. The exciting ancient setting, as well as the characters’ idiosyncratic personalities and their delightful repartee, will appeal to young readers. Horne’s pen-and-ink portraits, elongated and exaggerated, perfectly complement the seriocomic tone of the novel.
Fast-paced adventure with a lot of charm. (glossary of names, author’s note, source note, acknowledgements) (Historical fantasy/mystery. 8-11)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4027-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The journey is even gently funny—Omakayas’s brother spends much of the year with a porcupine on his head. Charming and...
This third entry in the Birchbark House series takes Omakayas and her family west from their home on the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker, away from land the U.S. government has claimed.
Difficulties abound; the unknown landscape is fraught with danger, and they are nearing hostile Bwaanag territory. Omakayas’s family is not only close, but growing: The travelers adopt two young chimookoman (white) orphans along the way. When treachery leaves them starving and alone in a northern Minnesota winter, it will take all of their abilities and love to survive. The heartwarming account of Omakayas’s year of travel explores her changing family relationships and culminates in her first moon, the onset of puberty. It would be understandable if this darkest-yet entry in Erdrich’s response to the Little House books were touched by bitterness, yet this gladdening story details Omakayas’s coming-of-age with appealing optimism.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-06-029787-9
Page Count: 208
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2008
A wild romp that champions making space for vulnerable creatures and each other.
A boy with ADHD explores nature and himself.
Eleven-year-old Jake Rizzi just wants to be seen as “normal”; he blames his brain for leading him into trouble and making him do things that annoy his peers and even his own parents. Case in point: He’s stuck spending a week in rural Oregon with an aunt he barely knows while his parents go on vacation. Jake’s reluctance changes as he learns about the town’s annual festival, during which locals search for a fabled turtle. But news of this possibly undiscovered species has spread. Although Aunt Hettle insists to Jake that it’s only folklore, the fame-hungry convene, sure that the Ruby-Backed Turtle is indeed real—just as Jake discovers is the case. Keeping its existence secret is critical to protecting the rare creature from a poacher and others with ill intentions. Readers will keep turning pages to find out how Jake and new friend Mia will foil the caricatured villains. Along the way, Bramucci packs in teachable moments around digital literacy, mindfulness, and ecological interdependence, along with the message that “the only way to protect the natural world is to love it.” Jake’s inner monologue elucidates the challenges and benefits of ADHD as well as practical coping strategies. Whether or not readers share Jake’s diagnosis, they’ll empathize with his insecurities. Jake and his family present white; Mia is Black, and names of secondary characters indicate some ethnic diversity.
A wild romp that champions making space for vulnerable creatures and each other. (Adventure. 8-11)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781547607020
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
