Freya & Zoose

by Emily Butler Narrated by Jayne Entwistle

Overview

Fans of Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan will treasure this timeless tale about a magnificent adventure to the North Pole and the even more astounding feat of true friendship. A perfect audiobook for animal and adventure lovers alike.

Freya has always craved--and feared--adventure. Traipsing all over the world is simply not what dignified rockhopper penguins do. But when she hears about Captain Salomon August Andrée's hot-air balloon expedition to the North Pole, Freya packs her copy of Hints to Lady Travellers and hops on board.

Only moments after leaving land, Freya discovers a fellow stowaway! Meet Zoose, the scrappy, uncouth mouse whose endless wisecracks and despicable manners make him a less-than-ideal travel companion.

When the hot-air balloon is forced to land in the Arctic, these polar opposites must learn how to get along. Their very survival depends on it.

Debut author Emily Butler spins wonder and whimsy to bring this enchanting friendship tale to life.

Editorial Reviews

FEBRUARY 2019 - AudioFile

Narrator Jayne Entwistle elegantly portrays an adventuring rockhopper penguin and her companions—animal and human. Freya, the penguin, is inspired to travel by her avid reading of HINTS TO LADY TRAVELLERS AT HOME AND ABROAD (a real book). She settles into the basket of a hot air balloon that three 1897 Swedish explorers are hoping to land at the North Pole (a real historical event). Soon, Freya discovers that a vagabond mouse from London has also stowed away. With a studied cadence and precise enunciation, Entwistle lets the story unfold. Her British accent is perfect for Zoose, the mouse. She gives each character subtle personality traits and allows the listener to chuckle at humorous turns of phrase and ponder the many twists of the expedition. A.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

10/29/2018
An etiquette-obsessed penguin and a vagabond mouse accompany Swedish air balloonist S.A. Andrée on his ill-fated journey to the North Pole. Ready for an adventure after being stranded alone for over a year, Swedish penguin Freya stows away with a group that plans to travel to the North Pole via hot air balloon. But she is not alone—mouse Zoose, a scrappy Londoner, has been “living in this basket ever since they built it.” Freya finds the mouse “vulgar,” but as the balloon loses altitude and the group switches to sledges, the two slowly bond. Freya saves Zoose after they end up in a meltwater pool, and Zoose returns the favor after a polar bear mauls Freya. The animals continue their journey, telling stories about their past, tagging after the humans, and meeting a “blindingly beautiful” snow fox, who enraptures the animals but misrepresents herself. As Andrée and his team face grave danger and eventually die, Freya and Zoose realize that their future lies together. History and animal friendship combine to form a touching, if strange, travel narrative. Ages 8–12. Agent: Steven Chudney, the Chudney Agency. (Jan.)

From the Publisher

"This skillfully told first novel will make a popular read-aloud; it’s a worthy successor to Chris Kurtz’s Adventures of a South Pole Pig and Kate DiCamillo’s The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane."—School Library Journal, starred review

"Butler has a light, humorous, and fluent touch, which particularly shines when her characters share their own stories. This endearing travel-buddy tale is further brightened by Thermes' charming illustrations."—Kirkus Reviews

School Library Journal - Audio

09/01/2019

Gr 3–7—When Freya, a very proper but adventurous rockhopper penguin, hitches a ride on Captain Saloman August Andrée's North Pole–bound hot air balloon, she is unaware that there is another stowaway on board. She and Zoose, a rough-and-tumble London-born mouse, share all of the adventure of the ill-fated 1897 Andrée expedition to the North Pole, as well as an encounter with a charming arctic fox and her narwhal friend that tests their friendship. Butler puts readers right in the middle of the action as she describes the treacherous voyage, unrelenting weather, and brutal landscape, painting a clear picture even without the abundant illustrations of the print edition. Jayne Entwistle performs Freya's story in a perfectly proper voice, while Zoose's words convey his Cockney background and his unbound energy. Although Freya and Zoose can read, wear clothing, and can converse with other animals, they still exhibit typical animal traits as they eat, nest and, despite Zoose's initial fears, learn to accept death as a part of life's cycle. VERDICT A charming animal tale of friendship, loyalty, and personal growth; youngest readers may find the human deaths disturbing.—MaryAnn Karre, Binghamton, NY

School Library Journal

★ 12/01/2018
Gr 3–5—A first-rate animal fantasy with themes of friendship and resilience. Freya the rock hopper penguin and Zoose the mouse become reluctant shipmates when they both stowed away on Captain Salomon August Andrée's real-life 1890's balloon expedition to the North Pole. The bird's wealthy Scandinavian upbringing has made her into a judgmental snob complete with a large inheritance, steamer trunks, and a known-by-heart copy of Mrs. L.C. Davidson's 1899 Hints to Lady Travellers at Home and Abroad (yes, dear reader, that is an actual book). The London-born rodent, by contrast, has skulked and thieved his way through Europe and has the tastes and diction to show for it. Both consider themselves ready to abandon the other as soon as possible, until the dangers of the ill-fated expedition put their lives in each other's hands. Told from Freya's third-person perspective in a droll mock-Victorian style clearly influenced by Mrs. Davidson's guide, this adventure story has it all: hardship, humor, and a narrative arc that shows the companions overcoming their past family traumas and mutual dislike to save themselves and each other. Thermes's winsome black-and-white illustrations capture the quirky setting, where proper penguins wear cravats and pearls to eat fish by chandelier light. This skillfully told first novel will make a popular read-aloud; it's a worthy successor to Chris Kurtz's Adventures of a South Pole Pig and Kate DiCamillo's The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. VERDICT A first purchase for all public and elementary school libraries.—Beth Wright Redford, formerly of Richmond Elementary School Library, VT

FEBRUARY 2019 - AudioFile

Narrator Jayne Entwistle elegantly portrays an adventuring rockhopper penguin and her companions—animal and human. Freya, the penguin, is inspired to travel by her avid reading of HINTS TO LADY TRAVELLERS AT HOME AND ABROAD (a real book). She settles into the basket of a hot air balloon that three 1897 Swedish explorers are hoping to land at the North Pole (a real historical event). Soon, Freya discovers that a vagabond mouse from London has also stowed away. With a studied cadence and precise enunciation, Entwistle lets the story unfold. Her British accent is perfect for Zoose, the mouse. She gives each character subtle personality traits and allows the listener to chuckle at humorous turns of phrase and ponder the many twists of the expedition. A.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2018-09-30

What happens when a fashionable penguin and an irreverent mouse each coincidentally stow away on a hot air balloon headed for the Arctic?

At first it's no picnic for either of them. Freya, the penguin, named for the goddess Freya, seeks to escape her sad reversal of family fortune by following adventurous advice from her dog-eared copy of Hints to Lady Travelers at Home and Abroad. Zoose, a diminutive mouse named after the venerable god Zeus, grew up cursed by his uncle and childhood priest and banished by his community. He's determined to become the first of his species to reach the North Pole. This modern-day odd couple soon learns that traveling involves risk and one must rise to the occasion. Ultimately they determine that it is "better to drift together than drift apart." By the end of their voyage, they each discover their talents while overcoming their fears, further proving that "travel is the true touchstone of character." Zoose learns to accept death while Freya redefines the meaning of "home." Butler has a light, humorous, and fluent touch, which particularly shines when her characters share their own stories. This endearing travel-buddy tale is further brightened by Thermes' charming illustrations.

For fans of animal and adventure stories alike. (Fantasy. 8-12)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169094510
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	01/29/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Read an Excerpt

There was no question in Freya’s mind that this was her last chance. Either she would find a way onto the balloon, or she would live out the rest of her days on this miserable rock. The men down on the beach nailed the boards of the balloon house together, a shed with no roof. The wind carried parts of their conversation up to Freya’s hideout. From these snippets she knew that she had three nights to prepare for the journey. That was how much time she had to gather the courage to leave.
Men had been here once before, a year ago. They had built the same shed, filled the balloon with gas, and then watched helplessly as the wind knocked it to the ground. They’d left with their tails between their legs. Freya had lacked the gumption to try her luck with that crew, but another year of solitude had almost driven her mad; now she’d do anything to get off the island. And there was something else: she wasn’t a spring chick anymore. If she was going to save herself, it was now or never. No guts, no glory, she thought. Hideous expression.
As the sun began to sink toward the edge of the sea, the men rowed themselves back to their big ship, where they ate and laughed and slept. Freya waddled down to the balloon house and slipped inside. Here she saw the great basket, not yet rigged to the balloon, in the middle of the floor. Would there be room for her and her things? The wicker was densely woven, but she gripped a piece in her beak and tugged. After an hour or so of this, she unraveled a gap large enough to squeeze through.
And what luck! Once inside, she realized that the basket was made of not one but two layers of wicker, with cotton stuffed between them for warmth. Freya plucked some of it out and made a small compartment for herself. “Third-class passage,” she sniffed, “but it will do.”
Then there was much to-ing and fro-ing between the basket and her hideout, as she toted her supplies down to the shed and concealed them in her little berth. She ferried tins of sardines and stale biscuits. There was coffee powder that tasted faintly of dirt, and some mysterious potted meat. Precious packets of Baldwin’s Nervous Pills were squirreled away, as was a suitcase crammed with extra sweaters and a lilac-colored woolen scarf.
Exhausted by this effort, Freya wove the wicker back together and hurried to her cave to rest. On the second night, she was at work again. This time she packed some cakes of chocolate, several items of a personal nature, a suet pudding that was probably five years past its prime, and many strips of bitter green moss that was said to prevent scurvy. Then she went home and crouched at the mouth of her cave to watch the activity on the shore.
Men scurried this way and that. Some measured the speed and direction of the wind. Others oiled ropes and checked the contents of wooden chests. Freya saw the glint of brass nautical instruments. And above it all rose the glorious balloon, shining and rippling in the sun, growing more rotund by the hour as the men pumped it full of hydrogen.
Freya stroked her beloved copy of Hints to Lady Travellers at Home and Abroad one last time to calm her nerves. How difficult the decision to leave the book behind had been. She could not in good conscience add any weight to the basket that wasn’t strictly necessary to her survival— hadn’t she snipped the very fringe off her boots to make them lighter? Anyway, she had long since memorized every word written by Mrs. Davidson, the woman who had governed her adventures.
“My adventure,” Freya corrected herself out loud. There had only been one so far, and look how that had turned out. Misadventure, more like. Tragedy, even!
On the third night, Freya played a last round of checkers for old times’ sake. Then she dropped the black and white pebbles out of the cave and listened to them skitter down the side of the cliff. It had taken her months to collect them, but there was nothing more depressing than playing checkers against oneself, even if one was guaranteed to win every time. She had come to despise the pebbles and the lonely way their clinks echoed off the walls of the cave. Good riddance to bad rubble, indeed!
She filled her canteens with water from the spring, and then there was almost nothing left for her to do except sweep out the cave with beach grass, which she did with scrupulous care. Freya removed Hints to Lady Travellers from its nook in the cave wall and cradled it in her wing. “I fear I’ve become strange,” she admitted to its faded cover. Her final act was to heap some stones over the book, making a sort of tomb. She stood before the mound for a full minute. Then she buttoned her jacket, picked up her canteens, and made her way to the shed on the seashore.
For the third and last time, Freya breached the basket and squeezed herself into the familiar cavity. She did her best to repair the wicker from the inside and waited for the sun to come up. Her heart drummed in her ears. Was she afraid she might be discovered? Was she anxious to begin the journey? She was many things, but mostly she was determined to leave.
 At dawn, she heard the men pull their skiffs up on the gravelly beach. Their jovial voices broke the endless monotony of the surf as their boots pounded the sand, stomping to the shed where the balloon was docked. It billowed up, lofty as a mountain, straining at the ropes that held it to the ground. Freya peered out of the gaps in the wicker basket, which was finally being shackled to the balloon. Oh, the excitement was almost electric! Today was the day, all right.

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