FernFolio » animals

Zoobreak by Gordon Korman

fernfolio — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:40:07 +0000

After she helped them successfully retrieve a priceless baseball card from the guy who swindled it from them, best friends Griffin Bing and Ben Slovak feel they have to help Savannah Drysdale track down her missing pet capuchin monkey. However a class trip to a floating zoo docked at a nearby nature preserve solves one mystery and poses another. Cleo, the missing monkey, is locked into a cage in the zoo and the zoo’s owner adamantly refuses to admit that the little creature might belong to Savannah, so that problem becomes how Griffith and his friends can rescue her before the floating zoo sails away.
Known as the Man With the Plan for his elaborate schemes, Griffin calls in all of the kids who worked on the baseball card heist, and begins work on operation Zoobreak. Along with Pitch Benson, who can climb any tree or fence, Melissa Dukakis, an electronic genius, and Logan Kellerman, aspiring actor, Griffin, Ben and Savannah reconnoitre the old boat that houses the zoo, check out the walls and fences surrounding the nature preserve, post miniature surveillance cameras, and chat up Klaus, the beefy security guard who lives on board. Armed with a plan that, he is certain, covers every possible contingency, Griffin and his team sneak in the zoo in the middle of the night, and then watch as everything goes hilariously wrong.
Savannah, who is Cedarville’s acknowledged authority on animals, becomes incensed when she realises just how bad the living conditions of the zoo’s exhibits really are, and insists that Griffin and his team remove not only Cleo, her monkey, but all of the other animals on display. The six kids have to find places to stash the forty rescued animals, and keep them safe, and hidden, until Savannah’s friend, Dr. Kathleen Alford, curator of the Long Island Zoo, returns from a trip to equatorial Africa. Unfortunately, their animal liberation project has made the news, and the police open an investigation. But, worse still, Mr. “Nasty” Nastase, the zoo’s owner, seems to be on their tail!
Written by Gordon Korman, Zoobreak is an clever, funny, and action-packed adventure about a group of grade-six misfits who know the importance of friendship. Sequel to Swindle, let’s hope there are more stories about Griffin and Bing, and their friends, ahead!
FernFolio Editor

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

fernfolio — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:02:50 +0000

Roy Eberhardt has recently moved to Coconut Grove, Florida, from Montana with his parents, and is putting up with the usual nonsense that adolescent kids inflict on newcomers. He eats lunch alone in the cafeteria, except for the occasional presence of Garrett, a skateboarding air head, and is trying to navigate his way past the attentions of Dana Mathison, the school bully.
One morning, Roy looks out the school bus window (his face is being mashed up against it by Dana), and sees a boy streak by on foot. What catches Roy’s attention about the kid is that he’s fast, and he’s running barefoot. When he doesn’t see him in the halls of Coconut Grove’s only middle school, Roy begins to wonder who the runner might be. He starts to watch for him from the school bus, and, when Roy finally spots the runner again, he frees himself from Dana’s strangle hold, darts off the bus and runs after him. After a chase that cuts through neighbourhoods and across a golf course, Roy is knocked unconscious by a flying golf ball.
Back at school, Roy is cross examined by the Vice Principal, who claims he’s broken Dana’s nose, threatened by Dana, and warned off taking any further interest in the mysterious barefooted runner by a rather physically intimidating girl named Beatrice Leep. But Roy refuses to give up on tracking down the kid, further intrigued by Beatrice’s behaviour.
Roy is also following with interest the developments on a building site at the corner of East Oriole and Woodbury. Future home of another Mother Paula’s All-American Pancake House, the site’s being plagued by problems. First, the survey stakes keep getting pulled up. Then alligators turn up in the portable toilets placed on the lot for the construction team.
Roy begins to wonder whether there might be a connection between the barefooted runner and the trouble at the building lot. Soon Roy finds himself making the acquaintance of Mullet Fingers, a fugitive from Juvie Hall, and an overeager new police recruit named Office Delinko. Though these two appear at first to be on opposite sides of the law, both are linked by the nests of three mated pairs of burrowing owls on the Mother Paula’s Pancake House building site.
Carl Hiaasen’s Hoot is a fast-paced adventure with an environmental twist that combines humour with an edgy realism. Though there are no fairy tale endings, there is a satisfying victory over big business and corrupt government. Hiaasen is also the author of Flush and Scat.
FernFolio Editor

Scat by Carl Hiaasen

fernfolio — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:12:01 +0000

Dragged on a day-long field trip to the Black Vine swamp in Florida’s everglades by Mrs. Starch, their terror of a science teacher, Nick Waters, his friend Marta Gonzalaz, and the rest of their class from Truman School scramble to record the names of plants and animals knowing full well that they will be tested on their knowledge. But the field trip ends abruptly when a wildfire breaks out and everyone is ordered back to the buses by Mrs. Starch who then disappears into the fire zone.
Though Dr. Dressler, the school’s headmaster, claims that he has received a letter from Mrs. Starch requesting a leave of absence due to a family crisis, Nick is suspicious. He happens to know that Mrs. Starch doesn’t have any family. So Nick decides to nose around and get to the bottom of his teacher’s sudden disappearance, one that is in marked contrast to her usual perfect attendance. Anything is better than sitting around worrying why his soldier father hasn’t sent his daily e-mails from Iraq.
Accompanied by a reluctant Marta, Nick checks out Mrs. Starch’s house, which turns out to be every bit as creepy as students have rumoured, and gets caught inside her house by a strange man named Twilly. Things heat up when the local fire investigator decides that the fire at Black Vine swamp was deliberately set, and police start questioning students in Nick’s class, particularly Duane Smoke Scrod Jr, who happens to be on probation for two previous convictions for arson.
But how does the Red Diamond Energy Corporation pen, found at the scene of the fire tie into the story, and did Marta and Nick actually hear a panther scream in Black Vine swamp just before the fire broke out?
Carl Hiaasen’s Scat is a terrific story about some kids and their teacher who join forces with a mysterious environmentalist to expose the illegal activities of an oil company and save an environmentally threaten animal. Written with humour and passion, this adventure is a sure winner!
FernFolio Editor

The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale by Lydia Dabcovich

fernfolio — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:02:01 +0000

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 his adoptive mother.
Kunikdjuaq soon grows big and strong, and becomes a skilled fisher and hunter, sharing everything with the old woman and her village. But his skill causes the village hunters to grow jealous, and they decide to kill Kunikdjuaq. Warned by children who overheard the hunters’ plans, the old woman tells her polar bear son to flee but the faithful bear finds a way to remain true to his Inuit mother.
This old Inuit tale celebrates sharing, community, and the strength of a familial love. Beautifully retold, and illustrated, by Lydia Dabcovich, The Polar Bear Son is both a window onto Inuit culture and a reminder of the ties that bind all of us together.
FernFolio Editor

Fox Walked Alone by Barbara Reid

fernfolio — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 21:20:30 +0000

An animal who hunts by night and likes his solitary, nocturnal existence, Fox awakens unexpectedly one morning to the knowledge that something is about to happen. He joins hundreds of other animals, all of them traveling with their mates, in a trek that lasts for many days and takes Fox and his traveling companions far from their natural habitats. At night they rest, the lions with the lambs,

…tooth and claw and fur and feather,
They all lay down to sleep together.

By day they journey on, driven by a sense of urgency and the gathering black clouds, through forests, across plains, and past ruined cities until, at last, they reach their goal, Noah’s ark. There Fox is startled to find his mate, a vixen who has been awaiting his arrival. Together they are welcomed aboard the ark just as the rain begins to fall.
Gorgeously illustrated with plasticine pictures full of tender and funny details, Fox Walked Alone is a splendid prequel to Barbara Reid’s Two by Two, her story of Noah’s Ark, published in 1992. It has been nominated for the 2008 Blue Spruce prize.
FernFolio Editor

In My Backyard by Margriet Ruurs and Ron Broda

fernfolio — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:56:57 +0000

Step into Margriet’s backyard and take a look at some of the many animals and plants found there. From snakes and wasps to mice, spiders and bats, in winter, spring, summer and fall, Margriet helps the reader to explore her garden and its visitors at all times of the day and night, and in all seasons. Margriet Ruurs’ simple and evocative text flows over the tongue like poetry.
Ron Broda’s paper sculpture illustrations are wonderful. Particularly striking are the white paper sculptures of a swallow, bats hanging under the eaves, and baby mice curled up in their nest, where the magic of Broda’s artistry can be fully marvelled at. Children in Grades 1, 2 and 3 will enjoy looking for the ladybug that hides in many of the illustrations, and finding the next animal to be featured curled under a bush or basking on a rock awaiting its moment in the sun.
In My Backyard concludes with a section that provides information about each of the animals celebrated in the book.
FernFolio Editor

The Farm Team by Linda Bailey and Bill Slavin

fernfolio — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:32:56 +0000

Every winter, the animals on Stolski’s farm play hockey, practising hard for the big game, the one that will decide the winner of the Stolksi Cup. Though the Farm Team has lost that big game fifty years in a row to their rivals, the Bush League Bandits, they love hockey and they play with heart. All of the farm animals lace on skates and hit the ice, from the goats and sheep, to the geese and the pigs, even those who are too big to fit under the goalie’s net, and are therefore disqualified from playing, and those who are too small to make much of a contribution, like the chickens and Little Pete, a runt of a pig.
The Farm Team awakens the morning of the big game feeling that, this year, they might just have a chance at winning the cup, but that’s before they get a look at their opponents. The Bush League Bandits have assembled the meanest team imaginable, and, right from the opening whistle, it’s clear that they are going to play dirty. Despite the odds, our heroes manage to hold their own until a porcupine playing for the Bandits crashes into the Farm Team’s goalie, Big George, and puts him out of the game. Though Betty, the cow, gamely steps into the nets, and they manage to even the score at three all, the Farm Team knows they are in serious trouble when a new player from the crowd puts on a Bandits jersey. How can they possibly hope to win against a Grizzly?
The Farm Team is a lovely story about a hockey team whose bravery and love of the game help them pull together to overcome enormous odds. Linda Bailey’s tale reminds us that no one is too small or too insignificant to make a contribution, and, to succeed, one must have the courage to dream. Bill Slavin’s illustrations are tender, humourous and gorgeously detailed. Don’t miss this book!
FernFolio Editor

Out of the Ashes by Michael Morpurgo

fernfolio — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 23:12:39 +0000

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 her own. Her first entries are full of the farm, of her dad’s twenty-five Gloucester cows and Hector, the bull, of the sows, whose names all begin with J, and their many offspring, of the prize-winning sheep, Suffolks and Cotswolds, of her own ewes, whom she has named Molly, Mary and May, of Bobs, the farm dog, and of her horse, Ruby. Becky writes with pride about the birth of her first lambs, and especially of the little ram, Little Josh, whom she must bottle feed, and who takes to following her everywhere.
Toward the end of February, Becky comes home from a rambling ride on Ruby to find her father and mother trying to absorb the worrying news that hoof and mouth disease has been found on a farm 300 miles to the north. All of the animals on that farm, more than a thousand in all, have been slaughtered to prevent the spread of the disease. During the weeks that follow, cases of hoof and mouth disease are discovered on farms closer and closer to the Morleys’ farm and, though her father has taken every precaution to ensure the safety of their animals, including barring access to the farm by anyone other than the immediate family and insisting that everyone dip their boots in disinfectant, anxiety becomes a constant companion to Becky and her parents.
When infected animals are found on the Bailey farm, next door, Becky recalls her rides on Ruby over Bailey land and fears she has unknowingly brought the disease onto their land. The animals are brought in from the fields, in the hope that they will be spared, and Bailey finds herself praying for the first time since she stopped attending Sunday School. She and her father take to checking their animals several times a day, looking for the telltale blisters around their mouths and feet. As the air around the Morleys’ farm grows dark with the smoke of the fires burning animal carcasses on nearby farms, Becky is sent to stay with her aunt and uncle in the town, and it is there that she receives the news that she and her family have been dreading.
Unable to stay away, Becky sneaks home in the night, bypassing the police road blocks that enforce the quarantine around the farm, and find her parents sitting numbly at the kitchen table. The following day, the vets and slaughters, the Angels of Death, come to the farm and kill all of the hoofed animals, the cows and sheep and pigs, and, in the process, pretty much break Becky’s farmer father’s heart. In the days and weeks that follow, Becky learns the full cost of pain and sorrow, and discovers that there are calamities worse, even, than “the worst”.
Based on Michael Morpurgo’s personal experiences during the 2001 outbreak of hoof and mouth disease in Britain, Out of the Ashes is a poignant tale of loss and pain and, eventually, of new beginnings. It reminds those of us who live in urban centres of the important work of farmers, and of their strong ties to the land and its creatures.
FernFolio Editor

Baboon by David Jones

fernfolio — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:17:22 +0000

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 food and materials, Gerry looks at the rainstorm from the plane window and worries about getting back safely to camp. When one of the plane’s engines stalls, the pilot yells at Gerry and his father to throw the cargo out through the cargo doors, but it rapidly becomes clear the plane is going down.
Gerry regains consciousness to find himself surrounded by baboons, only these animals seem much larger than those in the troop his parents are studying. The baboons appear to be conferring about him, then one of the baboons draws closer, and Gerry notices he has no eyes, that his face seems almost mask-like. The baboon presses his muzzle to Gerry’s face, and the boy has the sensation that the baboon’s face melds with his own.
When he next awakens, Gerry finds himself lying in the grass, close to where his parents’ baboon troop is foraging. He is shocked to discover that he has somehow been transformed into a baboon, or, perhaps, that his spirit has come to occupy a baboon’s body. After a terrifying encounter with a leopard, Gerry realizes that he needs to make a place for himself within the troop if he is going to survive. Drawing upon his recollections of his parents’ discussions about baboon behaviour, he learns to forage for food, stay alert for predators, and negotiate the intricacies of baboon social structure. He also attempts to communicate with his parents, who are trying to come to terms with the knowledge that their son, lying in a coma in a hospital in Kondoa, will very likely never regain consciousness.
David Jones has written a gripping story, one that sweeps the reader into life in a baboon troop on the African veldt. Gerry’s transformation into a baboon is entirely believable within the context of this story, and his wry internal conversations, both with himself and his gloomy friend, Milton, are both endearing and amusing. A strange and wonderful tale!
FernFolio Editor

Darkwing by Kenneth Oppel

fernfolio — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 20:36:51 +0000

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 dawn of time, chiropters have been gliders and not flyers. Though some in the colony whisper about his odd appearance, with his furless sails, his heavy chest and shoulders, his missing claws and his weak back legs, Dusk’s father, Icaron, is the leader of the colony and defends his youngest son against even the most pervasive mutterings.
When news reaches the island that the last of the saurians is dead, Icaron and other elders hope that the end of the great and terrible predators will see the beginning of an age of peace and prosperity. However, the extinction of the saurians ends the great Pact among all animals, and the chiropters come under attack from increasingly cunning and vicious enemies. Too late, Icaron’s colony learns that it has been lulled into a false sense of security, a lesson for which it pays a high price. When disaster strikes and the odds against survival become overwhelming, it is Dusk, with his new abilities, who must lead his colony to safety in a world undergoing massive evolutionary upheaval.
With Darkwing, Kenneth Oppel returns to the bat (or proto-bat!) protagonists of his celebrated Silverwing series. Oppel writes evocatively of our world in that time before history began, and sets the reader to dreaming. A wonderful story!
FernFolio Editor