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Manley, Curtis

The Rescuer of Tiny Creatures

48 pp. | Roaring Brook | June, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-1-250-24671-4 $18.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins. What do you do when you spot an earthworm stranded on a school sidewalk? For Roberta, the answer's easy: you rescue it, of course. Saving millipedes, ladybugs, snails, and other tiny critters is her "special job. A job no one else seems to care about." After Roberta squats to pick up the worm, she's momentarily transformed, with a page-turn, into a proud superhero, standing tall, sporting a red cape. But it's a fleeting image, for in the next spread, her shoulders hunch over as a classmate tattles, "Ms. Williams! Roberta has been picking up worms again!" With judicious use of bright color, white space, and eye-catching perspective, Cummins's loose-handed illustrations honor Roberta's compassionate rescue efforts. The specific, reassuring details (a baby spider is "just a stripy speck with legs"; a dragonfly's bite is a "little pinch") in Manley's text nudge readers to view teeny creatures as Roberta does--with kindness, respect, and scientific curiosity. After the satisfying success of an "impossible" rescue mission--requiring all her classmates' help and some origami boxes--Roberta finds she has a new sidekick (or maybe even two!). Empathy, problem solving, science, and newfound friendship mesh neatly here--and fit the bill for both social-emotional learning time and elementary-school science class. Final pages include facts about ten different creatures as well as instructions for making an origami box with a lockable lid.
Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

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