Rutabaga's Reads 2021: Part 5

You know I couldn’t go through this year without talking about American Girl 2021’s Girl of the Year (GOTY), Kira Bailey. While I do believe these books are now marketed as middle-grade, they also read as chapter books. In other words, for intermediate readers, where much of the book contains prose, but also contains occasional pictures to accompany what the reader’s read.

Kira Down Under (Dec. 26, 2020) by Erin Teagan.

Summer vacation has arrived, and Kira is excited to travel with her mom to a wildlife sanctuary in the Australian bush run by her Aunt Mamie and her wife, Auntie Lynette. Mamie is a veterinarian, which is what Kira wants to be when she’s older, as she loves caring for animals. She falls instantly in love with Bean, an orphaned koala joey, but she soon learns that rehabilitation involves releasing animals back into the wild, hard as that is when one grows attached. Kira meets the Curry family: Alexis is almost 11, her mom is the vet nurse at Bailey Wildlife Sanctuary, and her dad is the ranger. Kira regards Alexis as a quick friend, but she envies that Alexis is living the life she wishes she were living. When the two of them wind up in a spat around the same time she puts the wombats in danger with an unknown predator on the loose, while Mamie’s in the hospital with an emergency health issue, Kira feels she can do nothing right.

            Remembering that we were all 10 years old once is helpful when it seems a character is being too dramatic or immature, and because of that, I believe that Teagan represented the character’s age well. There are many people of all ages, the young included, that have passion projects, and caring for animals is obviously Kira’s. I appreciate that she’s portrayed as having a nurturing nature and educates herself, but is presented with the struggle of having to let the wildlife they care for go. It feels authentic. As all American Girl stories do, they celebrate all girls. I hope this story encourages others to be active responders in any “do-something situation” and ignites a flame for traveling (if one doesn’t already enjoy traveling)!

Kira’s Animal Rescue (Dec. 26, 2020) by Erin Teagan.

How far would you go if you thought you’d found an animal widely believed to be extinct? Kira and, begrudgingly, Alexis, team up with PhD student Evie to attempt to track the paradise parrot. Unfortunately, bushfires are threatening the sanctuary. Evacuating the wilderness vet clinic is daunting enough, but it’s downright overwhelming to Kira to include evacuating all of the wild animals, too. The sanctuary has a roundabout number, but 200 acres is a lot to cover, especially when all of the animals must be evacuated. Kira becomes desperate to save a wallaby joey who jumps out of his mother’s pouch and rushes off. During this time, Evie has become practically obsessed with finding proof of the paradise parrot. She goes out to the parrot’s habitat despite the threat of the bushfire. When Kira discovers something disturbing, will she have the courage to speak up?

            Of the two, I liked this story even more. I’ve never been to Australia (or New Zealand, but someday, hopefully) and so cannot truly fathom the intensity of what it would mean to have to evacuate because of bushfires or even the threat of one. When Kira, others at the sanctuary and volunteers in the area arrive to help evacuate the animals, the reader can feel the gravity of the situation and the fluttering fear at the thought of not saving the wildlife. Yes, there is sweetness to the tale – it’s an American Girl book, after all – but there is weight to it. It’s not all bouncing kangaroos and inquisitive wombats, but drought-fueled bushfires and catching a lie, too. This story encourages action against climate change and highlights some young ladies who are global changemakers.