(2) K-3 Why do amphibians cross a dark, perilous road? To lay their eggs, of course. But sometimes they need help. In the middle of the night, a biracial family dons rain gear over PJs, gathers equipment, and joins the volunteer Amphibian Migration Team. Full-bleed digital art, "informed by woodcut printmaking techniques," immerses readers in detailed, layered scenes. On the title page, a clipboard holding a blank data collection form, a pencil with requisite frog eraser, and a flashlight introduce the mission. Percival's restrained color palette -- midnight blue, reflective yellow, touches of brown and black -- makes effective use of white, notably for casting light and for when the narrator's little sister asks narrative-driving questions: "But how do they know tonight is the night?...Do they taste the warm rain? Do they smell the skunk cabbage blooming?" Childlike line drawings inside thought bubbles share her musings and offer focal points for viewers. Sadly, some of the amphibians don't make it, prompting the narrator to seek a solution. The blue of the night sky becomes the inky blue of building plans and checklists as the girl and her community members lobby, plan, fundraise, and construct an amphibian tunnel. Two double-page spreads of back matter, seek-and-find endpapers, and scientific captioning throughout make this book as informative as it is beautifully illustrated and designed.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Gillian Eilidh O'Mara. This nonfiction picture book tells the intriguing story of Walnut, a white-naped crane who imprinted on a human when she first hatched in 1981. Over the next two decades, she is subsequently sent to, and removed from, multiple zoos due to aggressive behavior. At the age of twenty-four, she enters a specialized breeding program for endangered cranes under the care of the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI), where she forms a close relationship with crane keeper Chris Crowe. Pincus skillfully weaves information about animal behavior and themes of trust and companionship into a story that highlights how patience and understanding can lead to extraordinary connections. The text is informative and accessible, detailing Walnut's journey while emphasizing the importance of conservation and explaining the critical role of breeding programs in preserving wildlife. O'Mara's digital illustrations, using soft colors that beautifully capture the realistic expressions of the crane, effectively convey the bond between bird and human. Back matter includes a glossary, a bibliography and resources, an interview with Crowe, and further information about NZCBI.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2025

(2) 4-6 Geetha and her mother, who lives with depression, move from Chennai, India, to Rhode Island, leaving behind the rest of their family and settling in an apartment near Narragansett Bay. Geetha is lonely at school and is made fun of for her accent, food, and thrift-store clothes. She often fights to "hold back the dam of anger building," though regular trips to the library and composing music on her bamboo flute provide release. She befriends Miguel, a Mexican American boy, and the two find a harp seal that has been injured by a fishing line; after it's taken in by the Marine Mammal Rehabilitation Center, they visit it as it convalesces. Inspired to prevent further injury to animals from pollution, the two organize a community beach cleanup. Written in verse, this compact, emotional story brims with metaphors about the ocean and sea life that echo its themes of home and the scary process of learning to let go of people, things, and beliefs. Additionally, there is a strong marine conservationist message that may inspire readers to learn more and take action. An author's note contextualizes Geetha's story in Venkatraman's own experiences; resources about marine life, bullying, and mental health are also appended.

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Patricia Casteleo. fter Bob and Ruby have taken turns narrating the past couple of books, it's only fitting that Ivan (The One and Only Ivan, rev. 1/12) returns as the narrator for the fourth and final volume of the quartet. The gorilla protagonist now lives a good life in the wildlife park, far removed from his traumatic past filled with abuse and neglect at Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. He is surrounded by close friends, both human and animal, who sustain him and understand him, many having gone through trauma themselves. Now Ivan and his mate are about to be parents and must grapple with what this means: "'But it's my job to protect them from the world,' I said. 'It's our job to prepare them for the world,' Kinyani responded, arms crossed over her chest." Offspring aren't the only means of extending Ivan's legacy: he is the subject of a forthcoming documentary. Tragedy almost strikes at the premiere when the filmmaker's son finds himself in the gorilla enclosure with an enraged silverback bearing down on him. Ivan rises to the challenge, both as a father and as a leader. This volume doesn't stand alone as well as the others, and that's okay. It's a wonderful farewell tour for these endearing characters and the themes that they have come to embody so well: adversity, resilience, and hope.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Magdalena Mora. Kiki Karpovich feels too shy to join in playing with the other kids on her vibrant, racially diverse city street. One day she looks down at the sidewalk and notices something odd: "The asphalt glistened like water in the heat. Kiki saw something...moving...a giant fish!...'Help,' it seemed to say." She rushes the creature inside, puts it in the bathtub, and fills up the tub, thus saving its life. When the grateful fish, surprisingly, offers up a wish, Kiki asks to be granted lots of friends. This request is too big for our "fish of small wishes," so Kiki goes away to think. "I wish I weren't so shy," she says to the (now larger) fish, but this is also beyond its scope. The next day she has a new idea, including a way to help the fish, but again: no deal. Finally, in contemplating their interactions, she's able to fulfill her own wishes and assist her fishy friend. Color-splashed and varied mixed-media illustrations ably and playfully reflect both the story's fantastical and down-to-earth elements. An appended note describes Arnold's inspiration: a story her grandmother told about her own kindhearted grandfather's fish rescue. ("No gefilte fish for Passover" that year.)

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon. Much like superheroes, some animal species have remarkable abilities. The ten featured species with "superpowers" have notable adaptations that help them to survive. These creatures are indeed impressive, and the book's format enhances the drama: after each animal is introduced, a page-turn reveals the superpower and how it benefits that animal. Examples include Turritopsis jellyfish, which possess "immortality" (they can reset their life cycle in response to injury); mountain-dwelling ibex, which survive by "defying gravity" in their ability to scale sheer cliffs; snapping shrimp, which can produce a bubble that, when popped, resonates at a decibel level that can kill their prey; and dogs, with their "super sniffers" that can help rescue humans and detect dangerous chemicals. Preston-Gannon's colorful illustrations capture the essential details of each species and their environments. The end notes proclaim that "action is your superpower!" and show the impact humans have on each of the featured species.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Diana Hernández. Toucan Grecia’s life is upended when a group of humans senselessly destroy her upper beak in this picture book based on a true story. News of the injury spreads, inspiring her rescue team of veterinarians and engineers to build her a 3D-printed prosthetic beak and sparking demands that lead to Costa Rica’s first anti-animal cruelty law. Cartoony digital illustrations soften the story’s darker moments, showcasing the beauty of Grecia’s rainforest home and the passion of Grecia’s diverse supporters. Back matter includes an author’s note, timeline, additional facts about Grecia’s life, and a bibliography.

Reviewer: Russell Perry

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Tiffany Bozic. Acting as narrator, a young hummingbird describes his first year, beginning when "my older sister and I hatch, two days apart, from eggs as small as navy beans." They feel a breeze "many times a day," signaling that food is coming. And then one day it doesn't. The two wait, cold and hungry, until the next morning when the breeze returns. Here listeners must infer what has happened; a human hand lifts their tiny nest and uses a syringe to feed the babies. They are orphans, now living in a hummingbird rescue center and gradually learning the skills they will need to survive in the larger world. Realistic and delicate, Bozic's depictions of the main points in the narrative (learning how to hover, sip nectar, and catch insects) are rendered in acrylic paint on wood with the birds placed in natural settings and poses, resembling the best of scientific illustrations. Readers follow the two as they make their way in the world, migrate south for the winter, and then return to find mates. An author's note explains that this touching success story is based on an observed hummingbird rescue. Montgomery outlines ways to save such abandoned birds (clearly emphasizing that readers shouldn't try this at home) and the many resources available to help these tiny animals of the Americas. Also appended are facts about hummingbirds, including their size and habitats.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by O’Byrne Chelsea. This moving tale of two storks begins when one of them, Katerina, who narrates the story, is shot from the sky and falls to the fields below. A farmer and a young girl carry her away to tend her wounds while her mate, Luka, remains just outside their farmhouse, keeping watch. Cold creeps in, and Luka must migrate with the others while Katerina stays behind. With time to heal as the seasons change, Katerina gains strength to build a nest and, at long last, welcomes Luka back from his journey. They raise chicks together through the summer months until winter weather resumes. Though Katerina's wings can no longer endure long flights, Luka and their chicks promise to return "when the magnolias bloom," beginning the decades-long annual rhythm of the real birds who inspired the story. O'Byrne's folk art-style illustrations center the stark white, black, and orange-beaked bodies of the storks against a colorful patchwork landscape of farmland. Her simple forms rendered in chalk pastel, colored pencil, and digital pencil manage to convey a range of emotions via the storks' open beaks, curved necks, and black-lined eyes. This affecting story demonstrates the devotion between two animals and the distance they overcome together, and could easily light a spark in a young animal lover's heart. Back matter gives information about the two birds behind the book and brief facts about other birds met along the way.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2025

(2) K-3 The environmental contributions of beaver dams are well documented. But too many beavers can cause problems, particularly for humans attempting to alter the landscape for their own purposes. Such was the situation in McCall, Idaho, in 1948 when Fish and Game warden Elmo Heter sought a nonlethal way to remove the excess beaver population. Transporting the animals across mountainous terrain to the nearby preserve of Chamberlain Basin, where they had been hunted to near extinction a hundred years previously, proves impossible. But when Heter discovers a stash of parachutes left over from World War II, he wonders if he can devise a beaver airlift. He cleverly constructs boxes that can hold the creatures, be dropped from planes, and open automatically when they land. This translocation was a near-total success; only one out of seventy-six did not make it, and the rest thrived in their new location and restored the balance of the area's ecosystem. Using an earth-toned palette, Uribe's computer-generated, retro-style illustrations superbly reflect both the physical setting and the historical times. Faux artifacts such as notebook pages, hand-tied flies, and even a cliffside depiction of Native artwork decorate some pages. An author's note goes deeper into the events (including problems with translocation) and provides information about humans and animals coexisting peacefully. A bibliography of selected sources completes the book.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2024

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Patricia Castelao. After The One and Only Ivan (rev. 1/12) and The One and Only Bob (rev. 7/20), it's now young elephant Ruby's turn to tell her story. Having relocated to a new wildlife park in Florida (with Ivan, the silverback gorilla; and Bob, the wisecracking dog), Ruby has been adopted into a new elephant herd. Tuskday (the "traditional celebration after the arrival of a young elephant's tusks") is fast approaching, and she is exceptionally anxious about the rite of passage. Ruby gets an unexpected visitor one day when Jabori, who cared for her in an elephant orphanage in Africa, comes to visit. This joyful reunion provides the impetus for her to share the full story of her traumatic past, beginning with her mother being hunted and killed for her tusks. A conversation with the wise matriarch of the wildlife park's herd gives Ruby the courage to proceed with the Tuskday celebration. The book features Applegate's trademark verse-prose; appealing spot illustrations; and the hallmark themes of the series: adversity, trauma, friendship, resilience, and hope. An author's note discusses the plight of elephants in captivity and the continuing devastation of the ivory trade in the wild.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2023

(2) 4-6 Because her mother is in the late stages of a high-risk pregnancy, Ava has been sent to stay with her grandparents at their cabin on a lake. In her state of worry, Ava persuades herself that the fates of her mother and her about-to-be-born twin brothers depend on various secret bargains that she makes and on rituals she performs, including the successful rearing of two baby robins. An initially annoying neighbor kid provides ballast to her adventures. Barillaro convincingly captures the kind of magical thinking that results from deep distress and lodges his story firmly in an eleven-year-old's consciousness. For example, Ava saves a woodpecker's feather as a talisman: "Maybe keeping it made her weird, but maybe she had always been weird and didn't know it until right then." The writing is clear, unpretentious, and particularly rich in details about boating, fashioning homemade noodles, digging for worms, performing life-saving techniques during a water emergency, how to cope with a power outage, and confusion about whether administering CPR counts as kissing (i.e., heroic or ick?). Delicate watercolor decorations on each page enhance the gentle, slightly otherworldly feel of the text. A fine, original example of the "summer at the cottage" middle-grade novel trope.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by E. B. Goodale. In April 2019, people held their breath as the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral burned. Among the priceless items to survive the flames were beehives housed on the cathedral's roof. Browne's lyrical picture book tells the story of the bees who call Notre-Dame home and the fire that threatened their hives. Drawing parallels between the cooperative worker bees and the cooperation displayed by rescue workers during and after the catastrophic fire, the story takes on greater symbolism: "Come! Rebuild. Work with each other. You are stronger together." Goodale's mixed-media illustrations combine printing, colored pencils, and a variety of paints and collage materials to create a vibrant spring in Paris before the explosion of smoke and flame encroaches on the idyllic scene. Yellows, pinks, and greens are replaced by violent reds and oranges, while clouds of gray smoke that engulf the images fill the once-open spreads. Images of the burning cathedral and the valiant efforts of rescue workers effectively build tension. The welcome news of the bee colony's survival closes the story, while details in the concluding note let readers know that the difficult task of rebuilding Notre-Dame is underway.

Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Richard Jones . When Yoshi, a real-life loggerhead turtle, hatches, she immediately crawls to the Indian Ocean and begins swimming out to sea. After five nomadic years, she becomes entangled in a fishing net (a sequence of events Jones depicts as a timeline of circles, each spotlighting her increasing distress). Unable to breathe, she begins an arduous journey to the surface, dramatically illustrated in a full-bleed, double-page watercolor spread showing Yoshi alone in the sea hauling a mass of fishing net behind her. A fisherman rescues her, eventually taking her to Cape Town's Two Oceans Aquarium, where she lives for twenty years. When Yoshi reaches sexual maturity, the aquarists initiate a program of reintroducing her into the wild; they finally do so, equipping her with a satellite tracker. To the scientists' surprise, she swims up the western coast of Africa, turns around, heads south, and returns to her heretofore unknown native beach in Australia, where she mates and deposits her eggs on the very shore where she originally hatched--a 22,998-mile journey. There's much to discuss about the interplay of instinct, perseverance, and luck in this fine book. An author's note describes Cox's inspiration--"I am intrigued by Yoshi's story because I too am a long-distance swimmer. I was the first person to swim around the rough waters surrounding the Cape of Good Hope, Africa" --and separates fact from supposition; a suggested website documents Yoshi's release.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Renato Alarcão. Seu Joao lives on an island off the coast of Brazil. When an oil-soaked Magellanic penguin washes ashore, Seu Joao takes him home, cleans him with dish soap, and names him Dindim (a grandson's attempt to pronounce the Portuguese word for penguin). As Dindim rehabilitates, the pair forms an attachment, though Seu Joao, respectful of the needs of wild animals, repeatedly tries to send Dindim back to the sea. Dindim does not leave--until one day, months later, he does. Earle's account of this true story is skillfully restrained, describing only the two characters' actions, and leaving readers to infer what human and animal feel for each other. "Seu Joao sat and drank his coffee. His lap was empty. But he remembered Dindim's silky feathers and the beat of his heart." Four months later, when Dindim amazingly returns, "the penguin waddled as fast as his little legs could carry him, right into Seu Joao's arms." Alarcao's pastel-colored illustrations capture the appeal of the people, animals, and beaches of Praia Proveta. In addition to a brief glossary, appended notes provide additional information about Seu Joao and Dindim, facts about penguins and threats to their survival, and steps that readers can take to help protect threatened species.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Jeet Zdung. Chang, the plucky wildlife conservationist from Saving Sorya (rev. 1/22), returns with a new animal-rescue mission near Yok Don National Park in Vietnam. In this volume, Chang and her colleagues rescue and rehabilitate H'Non, a sixty-year-old Asian elephant--voi in Vietnamese. H'Non was captured when young and made to work in an "elephant-riding" business where the creatures are exploited for profitable interactions with tourists (graphic illustrations portray the violent mistreatment that H'Non and the other voi experience). Chang works for a nonprofit foundation that offers an alternative "elephant-friendly" experience where nature-loving tourists can observe rescued elephants in more natural settings. The emotional story of H'Non's recovery is conveyed through detail-packed illustrations: dynamic comic panels; delicate, multipage paintings of elephants; and field notebook style doodles and anecdotes. Chang details her encounters with animals and plants throughout the National Park, the people in her organization and the nearby communities, and the voi, building a complex portrait of the sometimes destructive, sometimes harmonious interactions between humans and nature. Appended notes provide further details.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(2) K-3 As he often does, Say retells a moving story from his childhood in post WWII Japan. An eight-year-old boy rescues an injured baby sparrow from some bullies intent on tormenting it, trading them everything he can think of, including his father's American baseball. When he arrives home, his mother is sympathetic but not especially hopeful, while his father shouts, "Nothing can save that creature!" Resolute, the boy names the bird Kozo and figures out how to nurse it back to health. One day Kozo escapes--but the two have grown close, and the bird flies back to the boy. When his well-meaning teacher persuades him to bring the bird to show his class, promising to keep the other children away, things don't go as planned, and he leaves school with the bird, only to find the same bullies waiting outside for him. He runs and runs but realizes the only thing to do is to open the birdcage; the final spread is wordless, showing a flock of sparrows in the sky and Kozo flying away, presumably joining them. The ending is sudden and heartbreaking, but the boy has again saved his beloved bird; an author's note closes the affecting book. Say's pen, ink, and watercolor illustrations depict with equal clarity the rural Japanese setting and the young protagonist's quiet determination and devotion.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(2) K-3 Inspired by a news article about a woman who cared for a wingless bee found in her garden, this picture book follows young Sasha, who discovers, rescues, and befriends a small bee in need. The story starts on the ground, below the flowers, tracing the path of a walking bee who has no wings. "On the warm spring day when Sasha first saw the bee, she didn't realize something was wrong. Then she saw." Though the illustrations feature joyous spring colors created with gouache and colored pencils, they effectively express the emotional distress of Sasha (and her cat Molly) and the exhaustion and misery of the little bee. Visual shifts in point of view emphasize how small and helpless it is. With support and care, the creature, eventually named Bea, thrives, but its life without wings still poses challenges. Finally, Sasha imagines and constructs a solution that allows Bea some daily flight time. While the anthropomorphism throughout is fantastical, the story is embedded in firm realism: bees have a short lifespan. "And one sad, unfixable day, Bea was gone." The final tribute Sasha pays to her friend will carry on for generations of bees while offering a jumping-off point for readers. Illustrated back matter includes information and helpful tips for those who want to support the bees who buzz around their own homes and neighborhoods.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Charles Santoso. Applegate and Santoso (Willodeen, rev. 9/21) pair for another creature story, this one a verse novel about an otter named Odder who lives off the coast of California near Monterey Bay. The tale is divided into three sections, beginning with "The Queen of Play," a reference to Odder's daredevil nature. But the opening poems are about sharks, foreshadowing what is about to happen. On this day Odder can't resist going a little too far, despite her more cautious friend Kairi's warnings, and is attacked by a great white shark; she manages to make her way to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The second section flashes back to three years earlier, when as a baby Odder became separated from her mother and was rescued and painstakingly taught survival skills by the aquarium's aquarists. The final section returns to the present, as Odder, too injured to be returned to the wild, becomes a surrogate parent to another otter pup that has lost its mother. Applegate grounds the story in scientific fact, slipping in ­interesting details in a lyrical way, as when she talks about keystone species, "nature's glue, / holding habitats together." "Without otters, / sea urchins, purple as a bruise, / gobble kelp forests / until the ocean floor / becomes a barren wasteland." Santoso's tender black-and-white drawings, together with the large type, will make this novel very accessible and appealing to young animal lovers. Back matter includes a glossary; an author's note about Monterey Bay Aquarium and the real-life stories on which Odder's is based; and a selected bibliography.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(2) K-3 Photographs by Ellen Harasimowicz. This clear and engaging book documents the painstaking work of relocating a hive of honeybees that has outgrown its hive box. In Burns's conversational text, readers are introduced to Mr. Connery, who owns a "ramshackle barn" where he's discovered a colony of honeybees. He calls on the services of Mr. Nelson, a bee-rescue expert. Harasimowicz's eye-catching photographs document the entire relocation process, showing each step required to carefully move thirty-five thousand bees to a safer spot. Nelson uses a lot of patience, specially designed tools (e.g., his bee-vac: a modified vacuum connected to a traveling case), and ­Connery's assistance to gently collect the bees, disassemble their hive, and move the colony to a larger hive box on Connery's property. Details about honeybee life and behavior are smoothly woven into the discussion. An illuminating interview with Nelson explains why rescuing honeybees is important and how he's able to do his work without protective equipment. Back matter includes a glossary, a source list, further reading, and an author's note. A book that will inspire ­further curiosity about this important pollinator.

Reviewer: Laura Koenig | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2022