Horn Book Review
Created by Jesse Casey, Adam Gidwitz, and Chris Smith. This collaboratively created series--told through the two newest members of a worldwide society of misfits dedicated to saving mythical creatures--is witty, fast-paced, hilarious, and great fun. Starring upper-elementary-age New Jersey kids Elliot and Uchenna, each book focuses on a different creature in need of protection. Abundant black-and-white drawings spotlight the zany characters and add to the laughs. [Review covers these Unicorn Rescue Society titles: The Basque Dragon, The Creature of the Pines, and Sasquatch and the Muckleshoot.] (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Elliot's first day of school turns out to be more than he bargained for.Elliot Eisnerskinny and pale with curly brown hairis a bit nervous about being the new kid. Thankfully, he hits it off with fellow new student, "punk rock"-looking Uchenna Devereaux, a black girl with twists (though they actually look like dreads in Aly's illustrations). On a first-day field trip to New Jersey's Pine Barrens, the pair investigates a noise in the trees. The cause? A Jersey Devil: a blue-furred, red-bellied and -winged mythical creature that looks like "a tiny dragon" with cloven hooves, like a deer's, on its hind feet. Unwittingly, the duo bonds with the creature by feeding it, and it later follows them back to the bus. Unsurprisingly, they lose the creature (which they alternately nickname Jersey and Bonechewer), which forces them to go to their intimidating, decidedly odd teacher, Peruvian Professor Fauna, for help in recovering it. The book closes with Professor Fauna revealing the truthhe heads a secret organization committed to protecting mythical creaturesand inviting the children to join, a neat setup for what is obviously intended to be a series. The predictable plot is geared to newly independent readers who are not yet ready for the usual heft of contemporary fantasies. A brief history lesson given by a mixed-race associate of Fauna's in which she compares herself to the American "melting pot" manages to come across as simultaneously corrective and appropriative.Fantasy training wheels for chapter-book readers. (Fantasy. 7-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
