Author: Emily Butler
Genre: adventure
Similar books: Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure by Torben Kuhlmann
Chickenhare by Chris Grine
Rating:
 |
| not as light hearted and innocent as it appears |
Summary (provided by publisher): 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.
My opinion: At the start, this seems like a fairly standard, innocent adventure story. Freya and Zoose are complete opposites who, through random mischance, must find a way to get along. At first, it's just a matter of more pleasant travel. Then, through misadventure and near death experience, they learn to work together and even appreciate one another's company. This is all cute, a touch quirky, but entirely expected of a book for young readers. It takes increasingly dark turns as they travel deeper into the arctic and their human counterparts begin to fail. While the ending has a hopeful tone, it's not the tidy, positive conclusion you'd expect from a book for small children.
More information: Freya & Zoose releases January 29.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.
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