Friday, August 1st, 2008

The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale by Lydia Dabcovich

When an elderly Inuit woman, who is frequently forced to rely upon her neighbours for food, finds a small orphaned bear cub, she adopts him as her son and names him Kunikdjuaq. The little bear shares the old woman’s meager meals, plays with the village children, and forms a deep and abiding attachment to [...]

Friday, February 8th, 2008

Out of the Ashes by Michael Morpurgo

On January 1, 2001, Becky Morley begins to record her thoughts in a new journal, the gift of her father, a Devon farmer. At thirteen, Becky is on the cusp of adolescence, impatient of her school teacher mother’s nagging, and proud that her father has decided she is old enough for three sheep of [...]

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

Baboon by David Jones

Fourteen year-old Gerry Copeland has mixed feelings about spending six months of every year living in a camp on the African veldt while his scientist parents study baboons. He misses his friends, going to the movies, watching television, indoor plumbing. Returning from a supply run to Arusha, where they have stocked up on [...]

Saturday, December 15th, 2007

Darkwing by Kenneth Oppel

For Dusk and his colony, life in the giant sequoia, far from the politics and alliances of the beasts on the mainland, is peaceful and happy. As a young chiropter, Dusk’s only worries concern his furless sails and overcoming an almost irresistible urge to beat those sails and try to fly when, since the [...]

Sunday, December 10th, 2006

Any Pet Will Do by Nancy Shouse

9-year-old Jeremy really wants a pet, but his parents are concerned that he isn’t old enough to look after one properly. Jeremy decides to offer pet-sitting services, so that he can demonstrate just how responsible he can be.
Soon friends and neighbours are dropping off their animals, and Jeremy is learning that caring for pets, [...]