A Child Of The Wild

Canines, as their human companions can affirm, have a super sense of smell.  Their noses tend to assist them in avoiding dilemmas but can, when combined with curiosity, get them in less than desirable situations.  Emergency trips to the veterinarian to remove porcupine quills and more than normal cans of tomato juice in home pantries to combat skunk odor are evidence of inquisitiveness gone wrong.

This desire to know beyond their normal day-to-day realm is not confined to dogs but is found in their relatives living in the wild.  A Pup Called Trouble (Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, February 13, 2018), a new novel written by Bobbie Pyron, follows a coyote youngster that has an extra dose of curiosity coursing through his body.  He may have been the last of his siblings to be named but his antics and over-zealous desire for adventure spell trouble.

1
Eyes Wide Open
On an early spring day, in a den tucked beneath the roots of an old oak tree, four coyote pups were born.
During the first week, they nursed and slept just like all newborn puppies do.
All except one.

As the weeks passed this pup got himself into one difficulty after another but his interest in humans, called the Makers by the Singing Creek Pack of the Coyote Clan, proved to be a serious mistake. With the confidence of youth, Trouble figured watching the farm and home of the Makers and the Beast's (their truck) daily trips he knew everything he needed to know to put an idea into motion.  One morning before the rest of his family was awake; he left the den, traveled to the farm and hopped into the back of the Maker's Beast.  What Trouble did not know was the truck filled with produce and eggs was on its way to a farmers' market. . . in New York City.

His arrival and discovery at the farmers' market left him shaken to his core and running loose in a space more foreign than he ever imagined.  Every place he looked there were towers of stone and little sky.  He was hungry and frightened.  And he caught the attention of a crow known by the Furred and Feathered as Mischief.

In short order Mischief lived up to his name enjoying every wild moment Trouble caused among the Makers in a particular office building and a subway car. On the train a specific opossum named Rosebud was failing miserably at being brave.  How would she survive being trapped inside the rocking train with a coyote?  And what was a crow doing here, too?

Taking up residence in Central Park Trouble's life took on a routine of discovery, close encounters and nighttime conversations and play.  Mischief and Rosebud were his companions but others, a fox and an owl, soon joined the group.  A poodle named Minette and her poet human enlarged Trouble's circle as did one small human, a nature lover, named Amelia. 

While Trouble seemed to be unconcerned, his cityborn friends knew disaster was a dark cloud looming over the pup, ready to burst at any time.  Officer Vetch of the Greater Manhattan Animal Control and Care was determined to capture Trouble and Trouble's status in the man's mind had changed.  In what can only be described as an action-packed, life or death scenario, a foiled plan and convergence of characters take readers toward a true hold-your-breath conclusion.  Look toward the North Star.


From the beginning with each short, descriptive chapter Bobbie Pyron builds her narrative with wit, humor and mounting tension.  The premise of curiosity over caution is one in which readers can easily identify.  The commentary of the characters and the situations in which Trouble finds himself will have you smiling and laughing out loud but underlying both the curiosity and humor Trouble's inexperience places him in increasingly dangerous situations.

Each chapter end leads flawlessly to the next chapter with sentences which heighten our own curiosity as new elements in the plot and characters are introduced. Bobbie Pyron has a gift for enveloping readers in the surroundings of her stories with her choice of words.  Her knowledge of the animals is evident in the realistic situations portrayed.  Here are a few of the many passages I tagged.

He could just make out the sleeping forms of his mother and father lying close together beneath the wide branches of an evergreen tree.  And there, beneath a rock outcropping, slept Twist.  His chin rested on the strip of deer hide he and Trouble had played with the night before.
For one heartbeat Trouble questioned what he was about to do.  Oh, how he loved his family and the den and the ancient oak and the meadow and the creek.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't a member of the Coyote Clan," the crow said.  "This ought to be rich."
Mischief watched with delight as the humans shouted and waved their arms and ran about like panic-stricken pigeons as they were prone to do when faced with something unfamiliar.

Rosebud realized through her keen sense of smell that this was a human.  Her heart pounded.  Her blood froze.  She could feel a faint coming on.
Although Rosebud was not the bravest of creatures, she was practical.  She decided the best course of action was to assure this human that 1) she was not a threat, and 2) she was not a rat.
Rosebud stood on her hind legs, pulled back her lips in an enormous smile, revealing all fifty of her gloriously sharp teeth.
Without a sound, Verla Trumpowski fainted onto the floor.
Mischief croaked in disbelief.  "How did that beady-eyed little thing do that?"

"I think," he said carefully, "that sometimes you have to take risks to see something beautiful."
Finally, the moon rose.  Trouble watched it slowly climb, not above the jagged tops of trees like at home, but above the jagged New York City skyline in the distance.


Without a doubt A Pup Called Trouble written by Bobbie Pyron is going pass from reader to reader wearing a well-loved look in no time at all.  Readers can't help but be captivated by the adventuresome episodes of Trouble and the cast of characters.  The manner in which Bobbie Pyron weaves them all together is pure storytelling enchantment.  I highly recommend this title for your professional and personal bookshelves.  At the close of the book, Bobbie provides six pages of Critter Notes on coyotes, crows and opossums.

To learn more about Bobbie Pyron and her other work please visit her website by following the link attached to her name.  (If you have not read her The Dogs of Winter or A Dog's Way Home, remedy that as soon as you can.)  At the publisher's website you can read a sample or listen to a sample of the audio.  At Coyote Yipps Bobbie Pyron talks about her inspiration for this title.

If Only We Would Listen

In this new home, to make a back yard space, a fenced-in place for Mulan, my chocolate Labrador, a tree service was hired to remove sixteen trees.  My apologies on that fateful day, to the trees, were profuse.  Trees have always been a huge part of my life.  Climbing to the tops of a special willow and another maple as a child, our entire neighborhood was spread before me.  Swings were tied to their sturdy boughs for hours of dizzy contemplation. Picnics were consumed and game board competitions were played in their shade.  Yellow ribbons were bravely tied all over one particular maple on another street in a different town years later.  A now tall, majestic blue spruce still grows in the back yard of my parent's former home, a tribute to my father.  Author friends sent me a tree in memory of my sweet Xena when she passed away.  The Xena tree moves with me.

The weather here has been unseasonably dry and very hot.  Even though the calendar has declared it's autumn, Mother Nature has other ideas.  Walking outside now, the katydids are singing.  It's still seventy-eight degrees.  There's not a breath of air.  Tears still fill my eyes as I walk up to one of the thirty-three trees remaining on my corner lot.  My arms wrap around the rough bark of one as I lean my head on the trunk and whisper an apology and a thank you.  I have just finished reading Katherine Applegate's newest title, Wishtree (Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group LLC, September 26, 2017).  I am listening.  I know you will, too.

It's hard to talk to trees.  We're not big on chitchat.

Red, a northern red oak, is speaking to us.  Two hundred sixteen rings count the days he has spent rooted to the land on a street near one small green and one small blue house.  Across the street another larger home stands.  This resident owns the little green and blue houses and the tree. You should know Red is the name given to him by his animal friends.  Humans know him as the wishtree.

Each year on the first day of May people come, hang and tie their wishes, hopes and dreams to his branches.  Some are whispered aloud as the paper, cloth, and even a pair of gym socks are attached.  Red keeps all the softly spoken conversations on this day and throughout the year a secret.  It's a rule trees and animals have to remain silent even though they can communicate.  Currently owl, raccoon and opossum babies and their mamas reside in Red's hollows.  Nearby a group of skunks, living under a porch, visit regularly.  A crow named Bongo is Red's best friend in every respect.

This past winter a new family moved into the little blue home.  One early morning at 2am the ten-year-old girl, Samar, visits Red leaving a wish.  She longs for a friend.  Thereafter when she comes to the tree, as the rest of the neighborhood sleeps, the baby animals come to her as she sits on a blanket.  She is no ordinary girl but there are those who do not like her or her family.  Everything is about to change.

One day a boy, an older boy, not known to Red approaches.  He carves something in the tree.  Red wonders if it is an early wish.  It is not.  It says

LEAVE.

Two local police officers investigate, a reporter asks questions, and Francesca, the owner of the tree and two small houses, one blue and one green, arrives.  She makes a decision which shocks and saddens the animal realm.  It rallies Red.  There isn't much a tree can do, but Red like Samar is no ordinary tree.

A wish must be fulfilled.  A story stretching back through generations must be revealed.  A key must unlock forgotten history.  A four-letter word first uttered by one and then by many ignites the truth hidden in hearts.


By page two the first of thirty-two sticky notes was placed in my copy of Katherine Applegate's marvelous masterpiece.  Completely captivated by the voice of Red readers will eagerly embrace the ways of trees and animals learning about names, family dynamics and observations current and over the course of two-hundred plus years.  Red describes his domain as

Different languages, different food, different customs.  That's our neighborhood:  wild and tangled and colorful.  Like the best kind of garden.

Now something has changed.  A Muslim family in the small blue house is not welcomed by the adults in the small green house.  When Katherine introduces readers to the boy, Stephen, living in the green house, she sends out the beginning of hope.

Each of the short but insightful chapters ends with a sentence, a thought, which propels you forward and promotes reflection.  Through the conversations between the animals and Samar and Stephen we find ourselves trusting the unbelievable and wishing, yes wishing, for it all to be true.  And that's the gift Katherine Applegate has given readers with her words in this book.  She has given us the means to make a difference, to be agents of change, and to raise up the beauty found in human hearts and the world in which we live.  Here are a few sample passages.

Trees can't tell jokes.
But we can certainly tell stories.
And if all you hear is the whisper of leaves, don't
worry.  Most trees are introverts at heart.  

Hollows are proof that something bad can become
something good with enough time and care
and hope.

Animals compete for resources, just like humans.
They eat one another.  They fight for dominance.
Nature is not always pretty or fair or kind.
But sometimes surprises happen.  And Samar
every spring night, reminded me there is beauty in
stillness and grace in acceptance.
And that you're never too old to be surprised.


I've read Wishtree written by Katherine Applegate with artwork on the cover and final black-and-white illustrations throughout by Charles Santoso (Ida, Always) twice in one evening.  I have returned to those thirty-two marked passages and read them repeatedly.  Every page sings out hope.  I will be ordering multiple copies to give away at Halloween.  You will want multiple copies on your professional bookshelves and one for your home collection.

A special website is dedicated to Wishtree.  You can leave a virtual wish there.  This coming Thursday is Nationwide Wishing Day.  Read how you can participate.  There is an event kit and a teacher's guide you can download.  The cover was revealed on the Nerdy Book Club by Katherine Applegate.  Katherine answers four questions at Publishers Weekly.  This book trailer was premiered on Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read.  You will enjoy the chat there about this title with Katherine.

Numbering The Clever

Hardly a day goes by without seeing a group of small birds chasing, diving and madly chirping at a crow.  While they may be a pest in the avian world with less than desirable eating habits, they are known for their intelligent adaptability.  After my parents retired (or probably before but I did not notice) they were daily entertained by a group of crows who congregated in their backyard.  They placed a large basin of water on a backless bench so their feathered friends could drink and jump in to cool themselves.  It was like watching a comedy routine.  I wouldn't be a bit surprised to discover they named some of the repeat performers.

Counting Crows (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, March 3, 2015) written by Kathi Appelt with illustrations by Rob Dunlavey is a concept book with a surprise as cunning as the cawing characters.  Due to their residency in nearly every corner of the world, readers will feel connected to and will easily identify with the featured flock.  There's merriment in the wind.

One,
two,
three
crows in a tree.

As you can plainly see by the dust jacket these are no common crows; these birds fly with finesse and a sense of style.  One of them even has a stylish polka-dot scarf.  From the tree the trio spots insects and mangoes three.  They each enjoy the delectable discovery.

There's a nest in the branches made

of straws and sticks

a perfect resting place for more plumed pals now up to six.  These creative connoisseurs locate peanuts and plums; precisely plentiful for the eager sextet.  Flying from their tree to the lines stretched between poles, their number grows to a nifty nine.  Still needing another snack they scavenge creeping crawlies and crispy crackers.

As the three groups of three, in a tree, on a nest and sitting on a line, digest these delicacies, the chatter begins.  Another voice joins the chorus.  Now there are three, six, nine and ten.  These lucky birds find ten more treats times two.

Guard your gardens, these avian adventurers are on the prowl.  Goodies are gathered for eleven.  Away they travel together to a previously peaceful park.  How many are there?  Twelve crooners in a row collect leisurely escargot and crunchy chips.  Someone else is quietly counting.  A watcher warns the counted crows.  Beating wings herald a new fashion statement.


Most times when hearing one, two in quick succession, your mind will leap to buckle my shoe.  Decades later the age old rhyme learned as a child is firmly planted in your memory.  For a new audience Kathi Appelt puts her own masterful spin on counting by grouping the numbers by three, having the crows feast on their found food and turning it into a story.

She places the trios in easily remembered places but playfully continues by mentioning roly-poly bugs, mangoes, peanuts and peas.  Each food is introduced with a descriptive adjective; salty peanuts, spicy ants and crunchy crickets.  After the second meal is mentioned she concludes the rhyme with a fun exclamation.  Here is a sample passage.

...nine round crackers.
Nine for the counting crows.
Nine, by smackers!


The limited color palette of black, white, gray and red on the matching dust jacket and book case demands you stop and look at this book.  Well, that and the collection of six humorous striped sweater-garbed crows sitting, hanging, talking, peering and peeking from the branches of a tree extending across the opened jacket and case will definitely do the trick.  To the left, on the back, the rhyme for six of the group is an open invitation.  A more rusty shade of the red covers both the opening and closing endpapers.  The threesome from the front are busy on the title page while two others sit on the verso and two more fly from the dedications on their special page.

Rendered in pencil and digital color the illustrations of Rob Dunlavey capture the essence of crow.  Their long black bills, large eyes (How can a dot show so much emotion?) and spindly legs are hilarious.  During the rhyme readers are treated to a double-page image.  As they seek a particular cuisine, the pictures are smaller, grouped together over two pages, showing the crows engaged in a variety of activities; counting on their feathers, head inside a bag, stacking crackers or opening a garden gate.

When we give attention to these drawings the little details offer us laughter and hints. The unfortunate ants are seeking the crackers too, even assisting in the stacking.  I wonder how much longer the crow will read the newspaper on the park bench.  One observant crow's eye directs careful readers to a shift in the story.

One of my several favorite illustrations is when ten crows find the crickets and peppers.  On the left five of them are eyeing the doomed crickets.  One cricket is perched on the bent form of a crow.  A sixth crow lounging on its back, beak open, has thrown a cricket into the air, soon to be a snack.  To the right two crows are trying to carry peppers which have tumbled from a basket.  Crickets are crawling on some of them.  Another crow is balancing a pepper on its beak.  The final crow looks curiously at a cricket on its hand.  Friend or food?


Read Counting Crows written by Kathi Appelt with illustrations by Rob Dunlavey aloud or sing it as a song.  Whatever you do, do it often.  The language used by Appelt welcomes participation and the artwork of Dunlavey generates giggles and grins.  Your listeners (and readers) will be unable to sit still once the rhythmic rhymes begin.

Please take a moment to visit the websites of Kathi Appelt and Rob Dunlavey by following the links attached to their names.  This title was featured at Jama's Alphabet Soup with a review and a recipe.  Here's a link to several pages of activities. Enjoy the book trailer.