From the Publisher
"An exciting and stimulating treat for those open to the picture book format but capable of reading advanced middle-grade text."—School Library Journal
School Library Journal
12/03/2021
Gr 3–6—In eight dramatic tales of animal heroism, these stories include a lamb responsible for comforting orphaned rhinos in South Africa, a guide dog in New York who took a collision with a school bus to protect his vision impaired owner, and trained landmine-sniffing rats saving lives in Mozambique. The narrative chapters are accompanied by full-color photographs and informational supplements, such as pages on "how to train your HeroRAT." The stories are brief, informative, and engaging. This title may suffer a bit in student popularity due to its format. The book has the length and shape of a traditional picture book, but the substantial and advanced text may be too difficult for the typical picture book audience VERDICT An exciting and stimulating treat for those open to the picture book format but capable of reading advanced middle-grade text. This one will need, and is worthy of, hand-selling.—Mallory Weber
Kirkus Reviews
2021-09-15
Even animals can be heroes, as evidenced by these true-life accounts from around the world.
These stories of animals rescuing people and other animals come from interviews with survivors and animal trainers. Markle draws readers in with a suspenseful tale of a whale saving a researcher in the South Pacific from an aggressive tiger shark and concludes with a heart-tugging picture of a dog comforting a child whose home in Peru has been destroyed by fire. In between, chapters introduce a lamb who comforts orphaned African large mammals, giant pouched rats who find buried land mines, a guide dog who came between her owner and an oncoming mini school bus, dogs who find survivors in destroyed buildings and under avalanches, other dogs who guard a penguin sanctuary, elephants who help clean up after a tsunami, and a cat who attacked a dog threatening a child. She describes the training of “HeroRATs” in considerable detail and includes callout boxes on endangered rhinos, land mines, rescue-dog training, and the lives of little penguins. This prolific nonfiction writer and confessed animal lover knows how to choose stories and details that will appeal to her readers, writing clearly and engagingly. Pronunciation for some names is provided in context, and the text is liberally supplemented with photographs and maps (sadly, nearly illegible blue silhouettes on a dark purple background) showing generally where the stories take place.
Nicely varied collection and a perennially popular subject. (author’s note, glossary, source note, further reference, index, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 7-10)
