Don't Feed the Boy

Gr 3–6—Growing up in a zoo should be full of adventures, but 11-year-old Whit is bored by the same routine, his homeschooling, and his lack of human friends. His father is the elephant trainer and fond of giving lectures about when he was a boy, and his mother is so absorbed with her position as Meadowbrook Zoo Director that she barely notices her son. When a girl starts showing up daily to draw the birds, Whit is intrigued and determined to make friends. After dubbing her the Bird Girl, he learns that his new friend is there to escape a troubled home. Whit feels the desire to help, but suddenly he is drawn in too far. Things come to a head when Bird Girl asks him for a favor that he's not comfortable doing. While Latham's plot has promise, her delivery is lackluster. This is solid storytelling, but there is very little tension, even in the scenes with Bird Girl's volatile father. Character development is somewhat thin, and the illustrations, while probably meant to mimic the drawings in Bird Girl's sketchbook, give the book a much younger feel than its intended audience. It's an uneasy cohesion.—Jamie Kallio, Orland Park Public Library, IL