A mild rendition of the story of the International Children's Rain Forest, so named because thus far, 42,000 acres of Costa Rican forest have been purchased and preserved through the fund-raising efforts of children. In a departure from her usual style, Patent (Hugger to the Rescue, 1994, etc.) brings immediacy to her journey with a first- person narration in the first and last chapters. But the book is not as focused as many of her works. Despite the title, the children's efforts are not thoroughly discussed until the middle of the book, and then in no more detail than can be found in magazine articles. Patent's arguments as to why tropical rain forests should be saved are somewhat weak and not particularly unique to those habitats. Inserts in the chapters highlighting particular animals or plants convey information but also break up the flow of the main story. Perlman's full-color photographs are exquisite and capture some of the enormous variety of plant and animal life there; still, the pictures lose some of their impact when readers are invited, in the afterword, to buy rain forest greeting cards from Perlman, with a portion of the profits going toward preservation of the rain forest. Patent also suggests that readers raise money by holding bake sales and car washes, collecting pennies, etc. That children preserved part of a rain forest will empower readers, but the fund- raising message may be a bit overreaching. (maps, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10+)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-525-65163-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1996
An impressive sequel.
Boy and fox follow separate paths in postwar rebuilding.
A year after Peter finds refuge with former soldier Vola, he prepares to leave to return to his childhood home. He plans to join the Junior Water Warriors, young people repurposing the machines and structures of war to reclaim reservoirs and rivers poisoned in the conflict, and then to set out on his own to live apart from others. At 13, Peter is competent and self-contained. Vola marvels at the construction of the floor of the cabin he’s built on her land, but the losses he’s sustained have left a mark. He imposes a penance on himself, reimagining the story of rescuing the orphaned kit Pax as one in which he follows his father’s counsel to kill the animal before he could form a connection. He thinks of his heart as having a stone inside it. Pax, meanwhile, has fathered three kits who claim his attention and devotion. Alternating chapters from the fox’s point of view demonstrate Pax’s care for his family—his mate, Bristle; her brother; and the three kits. Pax becomes especially attached to his daughter, who accompanies him on a journey that intersects with Peter’s and allows Peter to not only redeem his past, but imagine a future. This is a deftly nuanced look at the fragility and strength of the human heart. All the human characters read as White. Illustrations not seen.
An impressive sequel. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-293034-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
Remarking that ``nothing about the weather is very simple,'' Simon goes on to describe how the sun, atmosphere, earth's rotation, ground cover, altitude, pollution, and other factors influence it; briefly, he also tells how weather balloons gather information. Even for this outstanding author, it's a tough, complex topic, and he's not entirely successful in simplifying it; moreover, the import of the striking uncaptioned color photos here isn't always clear. One passage—``Cumulus clouds sometimes build up into towering masses called cumulus congestus, or swelling cumulus, which may turn into cumulonimbus clouds''—is superimposed on a blue-gray, cloud-covered landscape. But which kind of clouds are these? Another photo, in blue-black and white, shows what might be precipitation in the upper atmosphere, or rain falling on a darkened landscape, or...? Generally competent and certainly attractive, but not Simon's best. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-688-10546-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1993
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