Skip to main content

Nessie Quest

Image
By
Nessie Quest
By Melissa Savage
New York: Crown Books for Young Readers, 2020. Fiction.

Ru, or Ada Ru, or Adelaide Ru Fitzhugh if you want to use the long version, is pretty sure that she's finally convinced her parents to take a family vacation to Disney World. Imagine her displeasure when her parents decide to spend the entire summer in Scotland instead. Instead of wandering around EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom, Ada Ru has to wander the banks of Loch Ness eating Scottish delicacies like haggis and black pudding -- yuck! Luckily, she quickly befriends Dax, a cute Brooklynite with a passion for 1970s folk rock, and Hamish "Hammy" Bean, a local Nessie enthusiast who lures Dax and Ada Ru into a hunt for Loch Ness' most elusive resident. As the kids become invested in the famous Nessie Race - the hunt for proof of the sea monster's existence - Ada Ru finds a lot to love about Scotland after all.

As she did with Lemons (2017), Melissa Savage has written a humorous, adventurous, at times wacky, hunt for a cryptid - and has balanced it with some real-world, real-heavy issues. That she is able to write quirky, real-feeling kids going through different challenges, is a real testament to Savage's understanding of children and their relationships. I especially appreciated that though Hammy Bean is blind, it is never his defining characteristic, an intentional choice by the author. Because this book is set in Scotland and many characters use a Scots dialect, I would recommend listening to the audiobook for maximum enjoyment. Whether your young readers believe in Nessie or not, they'll love this book.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Display: Dino-mite Reads

By
Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs By Mo Willems New York: Balzar + Bray, 2012. Picture Book. "Once upon a time, there were three hungry Dinosaurs: Papa Dinosaur, Mama Dinosaur . . . and a Dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway. One day--for no particular reason--they decided to tidy up their house, make the beds, and prepare pudding of varying temperatures. And then--for no particular reason--they decided to go . . . someplace else. They were definitely not setting a trap for some succulent, unsupervised little girl. Definitely not!" --Editor Smart Vs. Strong! Written by Jill Esbaum Illustrated by Miles Thompson New York: Simon Spotlight, 2021. Easy Reader. 64 pages. "When Thunder gets stuck in quicksand, Cluck uses his smarts to free his friend." --Editor How Dinosaurs Went Extinct Written by Ame Dyckman Illustrated by Jennifer Harney New York: Brown and Company, 2023. Picture Book. "When a child in a museum asks how dinosaurs became extinct, Dad co
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Enigma Girls

By
  The Enigma Girls By Candace Fleming New York: Scholastic Focus, 2024. Informational. 371 pages. If you have an interest in little known aspects of history or in World War II in particular, this book is for you. The Enigma Girls tells the story of 10 young women who worked at Station X at Bletchley Park in England helping to break ciphers during World War II. Each of the girls grew up in different circumstances, and thus, each worked at in a different part of Station X cracking codes. The reader learns about how Station X worked through the stories of each of the girls. Whether it was transcribing the Morse code messages that the Germans were sending to their armies or decoding, translating, or paraphrasing messages, each girl had a part to play. The stories of the girls are intermixed with plenty of photographs as well as special chapters about how to decode various types of ciphers. Learning about Station X through the eyes of the girls that worked there helps the reader gain a huma
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Hidden Dragon

By
The Hidden Dragon By Melissa Marr New York: Nancy Paulsen Books, 2023. Fiction. 161 pages. Three children, Otter, London, and Sophia, live in a fantasy world with dragons. Otter (short for Ottilie) is the daughter of a ship captain, and she loves the sea and its dragons. London is a stowaway boy, searching for a new life full of adventure. Sophia lives in a thief house with other children, all dedicated to helping each other and trying to make the kingdom better. As trouble begins to brew both on land and at sea, these three heroes realize that maybe it's up to the kids to make things right. Readers experience the book from multiple perspectives, and with a bit of mystery and adventure, this is an amazing fantasy read. With the inspiring message that children truly can make a difference, readers will enjoy how each character fights for what's right, even when it's inconvenient. The ending is resolved a little quickly, but this is a great read for all "hatchlings."
Post a Comment
Read more