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Adorable characters, an engaging plot, and stellar illustrations by David Gnass grace the newest addition to the award-winning Five Mile Charlie series. While the language is a bit advanced for the youngest picture book set to read themselves, this volume is certainly an excellent "read-to" narrative with its signature, fast-paced adventure paired with a thematic, universally understood problem to solve. In this case, the latest quest is a road trip to help Grumps, the coyote, find his parents and sister after they were separated in the city. While Carly (the girl) holds down the fort at the tranquil Five Mile Farm with Wallace the cat and Blue the hound dog, the rest of the crew draws straws to see who will drive Stammy, the talking Rambler station wagon that was discovered under a tarp in the barn and brought to life by Queen Bee Nora and her magical bees. This time, the coveted driving job falls to Charlie the cheese-eating llama, a colorful fellow who is forever curious and equally inspiring as group leader and comic relief.
This anthropomorphic quest exemplifies the importance of friends and family, and the respect shown to a family member who has embraced a different but equally acceptable life path. Dinky has rediscovered home and family as an adoptee of a fox family after she was separated from her coyote parents, assuring adopted kids that they, too, have the support of a loving family and that their lives matter. Both the search and the adoption situation will be familiar to many youngsters, as there are many notable children's picture books and stories that explore these themes across various cultures and settings. While this volume skims over the deep grief and loss that a real-life sibling separated from family would bear, it remains in the realm of hopeful anticipation of adventure and discovery. The story presents many lessons without being preachy or prescriptive. It should be an excellent conversation piece for these topics in classrooms or at home. The author's portrayal of Grumps's grief and longing for his sibling is gentle and, though somewhat unrealistic, suitable for young children's emotional and psychological ability to process these unsettling situations.
Between the outset of the life-changing journey and its conclusion are many charming illustrated spreads featuring the amusing settings and characters the Five Mile Farm crew encounter on their way from Oklahoma to what appear to be the Saguaro-cactus-dotted hills of the Sonoran Desert, where Dinky has joined the fox family. The story picks up on some Western US road-trip conventions, with a nod to an ET/UFO encounter high in the Rocky Mountains and to an Elvis impersonator in what appears to be Reno, Nevada. The cleverly composed illustrations nearly tell the story without the benefit of the text, as picture books should. Fans of the Five Mile Charlie series too young for reading will likely enjoy paging through this book just to enjoy the self-explanatory pictures. The lively story will also delight older middle-grade readers and adults, especially those familiar with the first five installments of the series.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review