An Animal's Point of View

 Did you ever hit kind of a low spot while you're reading?  Uninspiring books?  Books you don't care if you finish?  Characters that don't seem like anyone you know?  Well, let me tell you, these books will shake you out of that slump and FAST.  Wait till you hear...

The first one is called Once Upon a Camel by Kathi Appelt.  She's written a number of children's books that you've probably loved like Once Upon a Fox or The True Blue Scouts of the Sugar Man Swamp.  This new one, Once Upon a Camel?  SO AWESOME.  Let me tell you why.  It's told by Zayda, a camel (?!!!) and you have to pay attention a bit as you read, because the book hops around in time.  It starts in Texas in 1910 (Camels???  In Texas???  In 1910???  I KNOW!!!).  It turns out there is a terrible sand storm coming towards Zayda.  She has good friends, the kestrels that are trying to warn her about the impending storm but the kestrel pair are also hoping for a favor, can Zayda take their babies to safety?  Of course Zayda agrees!  The baby kestrels are impatient and scared and a little crabby (ok, maybe a lot crabby) but Zayda soothes them by telling them stories about her life, and what a life it's been!  Zayda's life started in Turkey, in the pasha's stables, as a racing camel.  Zayda's best friend was born at about the same time as Zayda and they are inseparable.  They love racing, they love their handler, and they love their life in Turkey.  A chain of surprising events land Zayda and her bestie, Asiye in Texas and there they learn about the plants and animals of Texas.  This book is like a love letter to the Texas habitat and Appelt makes good use of all the animals, plants and some of the history of this very interesting place.  On top of that, there are some truly stellar illustrations in this book.  From my ARC, they look like pencil or maybe pen and ink drawings and each picture gives such presence.  The drawings of the baby kestrels will make everyone go "awwww" and the camels are so adorable.  The voices of these characters are so wonderful, from Zayda's ponderous and patient voice to the baby kestrels shrill banter, Appelt totally nails the dialogue of this wonderful story.  I can't wait to put this one in my library.  

Here's the book trailer.

The second one is a sequel to a book I loved.  The first one was called Pax and the sequel is called Pax a Journey Home.  They're both written by Sara Pennypacker and illustrated by Jon Klassen.  In case you missed Pax, it's about a boy named Peter who has to abandon a fox kit he adopted because it was injured.  The fox kit is fully grown and healed and named Pax.  Peter's dad insists he abandon the fox because Peter's dad is going off to fight in a war and Peter is meant to go and stay with his grandfather.  Except neither Peter nor the grandfather think this is a great idea.  Peter decides he's going to go back and find Pax, except that he gets injured badly enough that going it alone on foot is out of the question.  A lady named Vola helps him along until he's well enough to go and look for Pax.  In the meantime, Pax is making his own life out in the wild.  SPOILER ALERT- The two reunite at the end.  It's a wonderful story.  So this new one, A Journey Home, starts with Peter living with Vola and his dad has been killed, but not exactly in the war.  His dad is accused of getting killed while being AWOL (absent without leave).  Peter's grandfather is bitter and disappointed about this and Peter is convinced the best thing to do is just to separate himself from everyone so that he never feels pain like this again.  Vola is sorry to see him go and tells him that she's given him a piece of her land so that he has a place to come back to.  Peter tells her he's going to join the Water Warriors- a group of people who are going out into the countryside to help fix the water sources that have been damaged during the war.  Peter meets two very nice people who allow him to tag along in their journey and they end up helping each other.  Pax meanwhile has become a parent.  He and his mate Bristle have three beautiful cubs.  Pax takes his little daughter with him on a short journey and she's poisoned by the water that Peter and his friends are trying to fix. Readers who like big themes of love and forgiveness are going to love this one, but readers will want to have read the first story for this second one to really make sense to them.  If you liked Pax, make sure you read this one!

Here's a book trailer. 

Here's Colby Sharp telling about it too.