A marvelous, tenderhearted tale featuring a charming and cuddly terrier protagonist.
A street dog learns to trust humans in Hoyle’s middle-grade novel.
Life hasn’t been easy for a stray border terrier separated from her mother and siblings. The humans who took her in abandoned her, and Big Guy, the canine who taught her how to survive on the streets, has never returned from his food hunt. Now the terrier cares for another stray, Little Pup; the two of them make a home in an alley behind a bakery. But she can’t evade “the dogcatcher” forever, and she winds up alone in an animal shelter. Fortunately, teacher and dog trainer Lee Berry adopts her and names her Millie. The ever-wary former street dog adjusts to her new life and an array of new smells, slowly warming up to Lee and Lee’s lovable golden retriever, Bella. While Millie hopes to one day reunite with Big Guy and Little Pup, she’s also happy to run into Tori Smallwood, the bakery owner’s young granddaughter, who had shown her four-legged alley neighbors nothing but kindness. Hoyle’s canine hero narrates this sentimental tale. Although Millie understands most of what humans say and do, her reliance on scents aptly showcases her distinctive dogginess. That nose of hers, for example, instantly picks up strangers before they’re in sight, and Tori emits a welcome and familiar “perfume of bread.” Even with the harshness Millie endures, this upbeat story zeroes in on the positives; Millie and Little Pup may be living outside in the dead of winter, but that doesn’t stop the puppy from playing in the snow. Readers truly see things through Millie’s eyes, from the reasons she’s extra cautious around certain humans to the odorous “message” she leaves Little Pup. Not surprisingly, each of Keele’s crisp, beautifully shaded black-and-white illustrations features Millie in her small but sturdy form, flaunting an irresistible beard.
A marvelous, tenderhearted tale featuring a charming and cuddly terrier protagonist.Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781639932337
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Fast-paced and plot-driven.
In his latest, prolific author Gratz takes on Hitler’s Olympic Games.
When 13-year-old American gymnast Evie Harris arrives in Berlin to compete in the 1936 Olympic Games, she has one goal: stardom. If she can bring home a gold medal like her friend, the famous equestrian-turned-Hollywood-star Mary Brooks, she might be able to lift her family out of their Dust Bowl poverty. But someone slips a strange note under Evie’s door, and soon she’s dodging Heinz Fischer, the Hitler Youth member assigned to host her, and meeting strangers who want to make use of her gymnastic skills—to rob a bank. As the games progress, Evie begins to see the moral issues behind their sparkling facade—the antisemitism and racism inherent in Nazi ideology and the way Hitler is using the competition to support and promote these beliefs. And she also agrees to rob the bank. Gratz goes big on the Mission Impossible–style heist, which takes center stage over the actual competitions, other than Jesse Owens’ famous long jump. A lengthy and detailed author’s note provides valuable historical context, including places where Gratz adapted the facts for storytelling purposes (although there’s no mention of the fact that before 1952, Olympic equestrian sports were limited to male military officers). With an emphasis on the plot, many of the characters feel defined primarily by how they’re suffering under the Nazis, such as the fictional diver Ursula Diop, who was involuntarily sterilized for being biracial.
Fast-paced and plot-driven. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781338736106
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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