Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 01/01/2013 Even as a piglet, plucky Flora knows that her destiny lies outside the pen. After watching sled dogs training, she dreams of joining a sled team. In this satisfying chapter book, one wildly improbable (but somehow convincing) event leads to another. Taken aboard a ship for some mysterious purpose, Flora befriends Oscar the sled dog and Aleric the cabin boy. She and Sophia the cat team up to kill off their common enemy: rats. Shipwrecked off Antarctica, Flora saves the captain’s life (and her own bacon), but starvation looms and the crew’s survival depends on an unlikely sled team: Flora, Oscar, Aleric, and Sophia. Reinhardt’s spirited drawings, shaded with crosshatching, add considerably to the book’s charm. Described as a teacher and a storyteller, Kurtz shows a good sense of pacing in his first novel. There’s humor as well as heart, grit as well as tenderness, in the telling of this Antarctic adventure tale. Recommended for reading aloud. - Copyright 2013 Booklist. School Library Journal - 08/01/2013 K-Gr 4—Her name is Flora, and she's a pig. She's curious and longs to explore beyond the perimeters of the pigpen. She dreams of going to Antarctica with the sled dogs on the farm and becoming a sled pig. When she is put in a crate onboard a ship, she sees the expedition as an opportunity while the crew views her as potential pork chops. Then they are shipwrecked and readers will root for spunky Flora as she discovers just how brave and needed she can be. Simple black-line drawings add a welcoming charm. Told in the voice of a seasoned storyteller, this novel has chapters that will work perfectly for sharing aloud with younger children or as a read-alone for more competent readers. Flora will encourage every listener to dream of being their best self. Move over Wilbur and Babe, there's a new pig in town.—Helen Foster James, University of California at San Diego - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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