Obe Devlin lives on the land his parents and grandparents lived on. He feels connected to the land, and goes out to the creek every day to pick up trash and keep things nice. As a new housing development grows on what used to be Devlin land, Obe mourns and tries desperately to hold on to everything he has lost. Then one day he finds an amazing animal near the new subdivision. It is unlike anything he or anyone else has ever seen before. He instinctively feels that he must protect it, but as he learns more about the creature, he realizes that protecting it is going to be harder than he could have imagined.This book is on our Newbery list, but only had one starred review. I guess it is getting some buzz in the blogosphere and is on the Junior Library Guild list. Part of its appeal is that it deals with a current issue, loss of green space because of development. There is also an element of wish fulfillment for adults reading the book (and these reviews and stars come from adult readers) in that Obe is the kind of kid parents wish kids were "now days." He prefers playing outside to inside, and doesn't follow the "in" crowd or play computer games. I liked the book pretty well, but the animal that eats plastic and poops toxic waste was just a bit too much of a stretch for me. It may be on our Newbery list, but I don't consider it a real contender. (2017, 243 p.)
No comments:
Post a Comment