Books with animal story tellers 2022

 We started back to school three weeks ago and it's so great to be back with the kids!  We spent a lot of the first week getting organized so I hope this week we'll get to talk books because there are some great new ones coming out!  These two are both stories about animals.  What's great about them is that even though it's fiction (we can't REALLY know what's happening in animals' heads!) we can think about what their life experiences are like and further think about how our actions might impact their lives.  Pretty cool idea...

The first one is called Violet and Jobie in the Wild. It's written by Lynne Rae Perkins, who wrote the 2006 Newbery award winner called CrissCross.  She's also written several other novels and picture books and this new one is a middle grade reader and I think the kids are going to love it.  It's about Violet and Jobie, a pair of mouse siblings.  They live in a house with their extended family and they have figured out a lot of things-like how to play a cheese game, where they use a snapping pole (a pencil) to snap a trap (it always makes them jump, even if they stuff tissues in their ears) but then they get the delicious cheese and peanut butter.  Until they realize, this time, they are stuck in a room with no escape.  This time the humans have trapped them and they are planning to release them at the state park.  Violet and Jobie have no idea where or what a state park is and once they get there, they have no idea how to find food or shelter.  According to the big human "They are wild animals, they'll figure it out."  So Jobie and Violet start trying to figure it out.  At first it's hard.  EVERYTHING is scary and new.  They find raspberries and then a hole to sleep in and manage to survive the first night.  But there are predators and terrible weather.  Then they manage to find a friend who teaches them the ways of the wild and then a community.  This is an amazing point of view story.  Violet and Jobie's voices are so clear and well defined that it's easy to identify with them.  Their adaptability to their new surroundings is impressive and would be a good lesson for some (like me, for instance).  The story is full of action and plot twists and is so full of heart and good cheer.  This is a wonderful story-if you liked stories like Poppy by Avi or Stuart Little by E. B. White, you're going to love this one.  It comes out in September 13.

The second one is called Odder by Katherine Applegate.  You might remember some of Applegate's other works, like Crenshaw or the Wishing Tree or Animorphs series, but she also wrote The One and Only Ivan  and its sequel, The One and Only Bob, which also have animal main characters.  This one is told by a sea otter named Odder.  The book is written entirely in free verse which going to make it easily accessible to lots of readers.  Odder is living out in the Pacific Ocean, she lives with a colony of other otters and is loving life.  She really likes to play, even more than some of her friends, and as they're playing, a shark attacks.  Odder is injured and swims up to shore and is rescued by a marine aquarium.  But it turns out that it's not the first time Odder has been rescued.  This story tells a lot about otter behavior and rescue efforts to rehabilitate otters.  It also has themes of friendship and caring for others and what it's like to live without being afraid.  This is a wonderful story that is well researched and well told and I think the kids (and adults) are going to love it.  It also comes out in September 20 and I can't wait.