Tate’s Wild Rescue by Jenny Turnbull, illustrated by Izzy Burton. Crown Books for Young Readers, 2024. 9780593569078
Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 3.5
Format: Hardcover picture book
What did you like about the book? Tate loves wild animals and dreams of having them live in her home. In a series of handwritten letters (appearing as facsimiles), she invites one unsuitable creature after another to move in, including a lion, an orca, a kangaroo, and a tiger. They all respond with polite but emphatic nos, alluding to behavioral or dietary facts that make them ill-suited to life in the suburbs. The grizzly cub will soon weigh 800 pounds and doesn’t like to be disturbed for six months each year. Tiger prefers 80 pounds of meat a day to Tate’s offer of cookies. Kids will enjoy predicting which animal Tate will invite next, reading each letter for clues before turning the page for a reveal. Sharp-eyed readers will notice a scruffy, long-legged dog skulking around Tate’s house and predict (correctly!) that he’s the one who longs for an owner and a place to live. Cartoonish digital illustrations show Tate as a dark-skinned child of about 7 or 8 with black hair. It’s fun to see the dog (whom she names Panda) morph from a dirty, hungry fellow to a clean black-and-white mutt who curls up in Tate’s bed at night. Back matter includes two pages of information about how to help wild animals (finding wildlife rehab centers, making backyards wildlife friendly, etc.) and the demands of adopting a dog or cat from a local animal shelter.
Anything you didn’t like about it? Tate appears to live completely alone, an unrealistic set-up. And although the appearance of a stray friendly dog was fortuitous as a plot device, children may come away thinking it’s OK to approach unfamiliar animals and make them part of the family. While the letter writing was cute and fun to read, it wasn’t completely clear to me what Tate’s letters said, as we only see the animals’ responses and the unique P.S. she adds to each new entreaty.
To whom would you recommend this book? Kids who love animals. This book strongly recalled the classic If Anything Ever Goes Wrong at the Zoo (1996) by Mary Jean Hendrick with illustrations by Jane Dyer, but with the welcome update of a BIPOC main character. Teachers sometimes ask for books with letters, such as the perennially popular The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt or Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters From Obedience School by Mark Teague, so may appreciate having a new story to share.
Who should buy this book? Elementary school and public libraries
Where would you shelve it? Picture books
Should we (librarians/readers) put this on the top of our “to read” piles? No
Reviewer: Susan Harari, Keefe Library, Boston Latin School, Boston, MA
Date of review: June 26, 2024
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