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Cerra, Kerry O'Malley. Make a Little Wave
1 October 2024 by Carolrhoda Books
E ARC provided by Netgalley
Savannah, or Sav, has recently moved from Orlando with her family to the smaller coastal town of Sandy Dune, Florida. She will miss her best friend Maizy, although the two plan to keep in touch. Sav, who was born with a hearing loss and had cochlear implants a few years ago when hearing aids stopped being effective, has some fear of the water. She doesn't care for the darkness, since she can't depend on hearing when she is in the water. She is also rather afraid of sharks and other marine creatures. She's met Tanner, who is going to be in her grade at school, on the beach, and when his family opens a new restaurant, he invites her. Sav also has a bit of social anxiety, and when she is nervous, has a tendency to forget words (e.g. calling "fishing" "ocean shopping"). She is uncomfortable in a skirt, nervous around all of the fancy people in the restaurant, and doesn't like sea food, so when she is served a bowl of soup with a chewy bit of meat in it, she is appalled to find out it is shark's fin. Predictably, she vomits all over the table. Luckily, Tanner's grandfather comes to her aid, gets her cleaned up, and helps her to summon her mother. He says that he is grateful that she saved HIM from having to eat the soup. Of course, videos of this hit social media; Tanner had previously posted a picture of him and Sav on the dock that he meant to be flattering. Sav is not only mortified, but horrified when she researches how the shark's fin soup is made. She tells Tanner about how the sharks are caught, definned, and left to die, and he said that he didn't know about it, but that his parents make a lot of money charging for the soup, which is considered a delicacy. Once school starts, Sav joins the marine environmental club, and makes friends with a girl who insists on being called Rav (her real name is Benedicta) and Belén. The two want to join Sav's fight against the people who are not necessarily violating local laws concerning the sharks, but are certainly not being ethical about gathering them, since they bring them from international waters. Sav also suspects that Tanner's father is heavily involved in their trade. To try to make her point, she and her friends protest outside the restaurant, but are told to move along. After that, Sav has Maizy send her live cockroaches in the mail, which her older sister Arbor notices. Sav, of course, says that it's something for a school project. Rav and Belén are supposed to help Sav release them in the restaurant, but are uncomfortable doing this. Even when they do, people don't make too much of a fuss. Still angry, Sav researches how to disable the boat that Tanner's family uses for expeditions, and is caught by Tanner and the local police filling the gas tank with water. This causes MUCH more damage than she expected, and she is forced to work off the thousand dollars in repairs helping Tanner clean the boat. Tanner is very understanding, but his parents (and Sav's) are not happy about Sav's actions. Seeing that her efforts that focused on Tanner's family weren't successful, she works with her teacher and the environmental club to stage a sit in at the office of a local government official who seems to be abetting the shark fin trade. Will Sav be able to educate her community and stop the horrible practice?
Strengths: Sav was a realistically enthusiastic and sometimes misguided middle school character. She wanted desperately to save the sharks, but is okay with sending the roaches to their death in the restaurant. I liked that Tanner and others called her on this. The fact that she was hearing impaired was just part of her character and not a focus of the story; this author's Hear Me is more concerned with the hearing loss, so it's great to see a character going about her life with this difference in ability. I learned a lot about cochlear implants, so that was interesting! The family's move was well depicted, with the older sister enjoying making new friends, but Sav worrying more, even though she does find Rav and Belén. The relationship with Tanner is very sweet; you can't go wrong putting a light romance into a middle grade book. Climate and ecological activism is very important, and Sav manages to surround herself with people who are able to "make a little wave".
Weaknesses: As an adult, I was very concerned that Sav's activism led her to some truly destructive behavior, and that she never seemed to understand the damage that she caused. Young readers are unlikely to replicate her release of roaches or sabotage of a gas tank, and this will sit differently with different readers, but I didn't care for it very much, because I am personally risk averse!
What I really think: This will be a big hit with readers who are interested in marine biology and enjoyed Kelly's Song for a Whale, Berne's A Dolphin Named Star, Hapka's Heart of a Dolphin, Griffin's Manatee Summer, Dimopoulos's Turn the Tide, Baskin's Consider the Octopus, or Park's new Gracie Under the Waves.
Strengths: Sav was a realistically enthusiastic and sometimes misguided middle school character. She wanted desperately to save the sharks, but is okay with sending the roaches to their death in the restaurant. I liked that Tanner and others called her on this. The fact that she was hearing impaired was just part of her character and not a focus of the story; this author's Hear Me is more concerned with the hearing loss, so it's great to see a character going about her life with this difference in ability. I learned a lot about cochlear implants, so that was interesting! The family's move was well depicted, with the older sister enjoying making new friends, but Sav worrying more, even though she does find Rav and Belén. The relationship with Tanner is very sweet; you can't go wrong putting a light romance into a middle grade book. Climate and ecological activism is very important, and Sav manages to surround herself with people who are able to "make a little wave".
Weaknesses: As an adult, I was very concerned that Sav's activism led her to some truly destructive behavior, and that she never seemed to understand the damage that she caused. Young readers are unlikely to replicate her release of roaches or sabotage of a gas tank, and this will sit differently with different readers, but I didn't care for it very much, because I am personally risk averse!
What I really think: This will be a big hit with readers who are interested in marine biology and enjoyed Kelly's Song for a Whale, Berne's A Dolphin Named Star, Hapka's Heart of a Dolphin, Griffin's Manatee Summer, Dimopoulos's Turn the Tide, Baskin's Consider the Octopus, or Park's new Gracie Under the Waves.
September 17, 2024 by Harry N. Abrams
E ARC provided by the author
Lori Allegria's mother Tess is a lawyer who works with the opera at New York's Lincoln Center, and has helped arrange a field trip for Lori's class to see behind the scenes of the production of Aida and to learn a bit about ancient Egypt. Lori and Tessa live on the family farm in Springs, trying hard to keep it afloat by taking on some equine boarders. Lori is amazed to find that productions of Aida usually involve a real horse, but the director is unable to find one. Lori volunteers her Norwegian fjord horse, Billy, and is soon in the theater with him. Billy turns out to be a natural. The play is seen by Marlowe Narang, a child celebrity and son of Fred Naranh, a famous agent, who decides that his next movie MUST include Billy! On his way back to California on the plane, Marlowe writes an entire screenplay entitled Once Upon a Horse, and gives it to his father, who thinks it's amazing. The movie rights are bought by a major production company, and Tessa is offered a lot of money for Billy to be in the movie... enough to save the farm. It's hard to send Billy out west to a ghost town in the Mojave Desert for filming, where he would be cared for by Julian Okwonga, but Lori understands. Fred, who is in a wheelchair and benefitted from equine therapy as a child, makes Billy feel at ease on the busy movie set. Lori tries to put on a brave face for her mother, but she misses her friend, and when she sees on the news that Billy has broken away from the camp after coming into contact with a mountain and is lost, she is distraught. She grabs her backpack, leaves a note for her mother, and takes off on a Greyhound Bus. Billy, meanwhile, ends up in a herd of wild donkeys. Getting off the bus at a food stand, she meets Aiyana, who is part of a group trying to help find Billy online. Aiyana, who is Navajo, was sent to live with her aunt while her parents are both deployed, and has a horse named Sǫ́-Sǫ́, and the two decide to ride the horse together to save Billy. Tessa, in a panic over Lori's disappearance, travels to the film set to meet with Fred. Marlowe also takes off to search for the horse, and runs into Aiyana and Lori in the wilderness, but has no luck in finding Billy. Settling in for the night, they bring out Granny Smith apples to eat... and their crunching is heard by Billy! The next morning, the three children make it back to the film site, and there's a change of casting; Sǫ́-Sǫ́ will take over the starring role, and Billy will go back home to Lori. Aiyanna is surprised, but glad that she will be involved with her horse on the set.
Strengths: Lori's love for Billy is very clear, but her mother's wish to save the farm is understandable. Middle Grade readers are fond of celebrity, so they will enjoy Marlowe's experiences as a star actor and screenwriter. There is some southwestern flavor with the character of Aiyana and her horse Sǫ́-Sǫ́, and a satisfying adventure out in the wilderness. I had never heard of Norwegian fjord horses before, but my readers who love all things equestrian will be enthralled and want to research everything about them. This is a nicely short book, and I can see elementary readers taking their Breyer horse models and acting out the scenes!
Weaknesses: This was quite different from the author's previous two books, which were more solidly based on real events; this was based on a real horse, but definitely more fictionalized, which just caught me by surprise. Since these books don't need to be read as a series, young readers who don't have this expectation will have no problem with it.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who want a horse adventure book like Farley's The Wild One, Lawrence's Winter Pony, Gratz's Two Degrees, or Gemeinhart's Some Kind of Courage, or who have enjoyed this author's other books, The Flying Horse and The Jockey and Her Horse.
Weaknesses: This was quite different from the author's previous two books, which were more solidly based on real events; this was based on a real horse, but definitely more fictionalized, which just caught me by surprise. Since these books don't need to be read as a series, young readers who don't have this expectation will have no problem with it.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who want a horse adventure book like Farley's The Wild One, Lawrence's Winter Pony, Gratz's Two Degrees, or Gemeinhart's Some Kind of Courage, or who have enjoyed this author's other books, The Flying Horse and The Jockey and Her Horse.
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