JOURNEY

BASED ON THE TRUE STORY OF OR7, THE MOST FAMOUS WOLF IN THE WEST

For good young readers and patient listeners, environmental good news invitingly presented.

In 2011, a wolf collared with a tracking device left his pack in northern Oregon, as young wolves do, and ventured south, becoming the first wolf to enter California since 1924.

In her fictionalization of his travels, Smith alternates OR7's story with that of a young California resident, a Mexican-American girl she calls Abby. Using internet data, Abby tracks the wolf on a map, and she submits a winning name, Journey, in a contest to make the wolf "too famous to harm." (In real life, the backmatter tells us, two children from other states were the contest winners.) The author imagines what Journey senses and thinks along the way. She includes his encounter with a motion-sensor camera, his temporary stay with a pack of coyotes, and his discovery of the young black female, also a wanderer, who became his real-life mate. They’ve settled just north of the border, raised pups, and started a new pack. James’ realistic, finely detailed paintings glory in every hair of the wolves’ fur. Journey’s trek is depicted on double-page spreads; for Abby’s experience, full-page images oppose pages of text, each with a relevant vignette. The backmatter includes an actual photograph. The text and its font size may be challenging for young readers, but the story will appeal.

For good young readers and patient listeners, environmental good news invitingly presented. (timeline, map, further web exploration) (Picture book. 6-10)

Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-63217-065-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Sasquatch

Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016

Categories:

A HORSE NAMED SKY

A feel-good tale of a clever and determined stallion set against a well-developed landscape.

In mid-19th-century Nevada, a colt named Sky grows up to lead his band of wild horses.

Parry’s moving story follows the pattern of her recent animal tales, A Wolf Called Wander (2019) and A Whale of the Wild (2020), chronicling a wild animal’s life in the first person, imagining its point of view, and detailing and appreciating the natural world it inhabits. As Sky grows from wobbly newborn to leader of his family, he faces more than the usual challenges for colts who must fight their stallions or leave their herds when they are grown up. Fagan’s appealing black-and-white illustrations help readers envision this survival story. Sky’s adventures include forced service with the Pony Express; being befriended by an enslaved Paiute boy; escaping to find his now-captured band; and helping them escape the silver miners who’d destroyed their world. Animal lovers will applaud his ingenuity and stubbornness. Although Sky’s band has suffered serious injuries (his mother is blind), he and Storm, a mare who was his childhood companion, lead them toward safety in a new wilderness. The writer’s admiration for these wild horses and her concerns about human destruction of their environment come through even more clearly in a series of concluding expository essays discussing the wild horses, the Indigenous Americans, the natural history of the Great Basin, silver mining, and the Pony Express.

A feel-good tale of a clever and determined stallion set against a well-developed landscape. (author’s note, resources) (Fiction. 7-10)

Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2023

ISBN: 9780062995957

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023

ACOUSTIC ROOSTER AND HIS BARNYARD BAND

Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...

Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.

Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press

Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011

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