From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-Frank and his nine-year-old niece, Cora Lee, have a tradition of going fishing on New Year's Eve day during her annual trip to Arizona. This year, however, may be the last because of Frank's stubborn refusal to ever visit Cora's home and the rest of his family in Indiana. The child is upset by this prospect, but her uncle can offer her no reasonable explanation. Instead, he tells her a story about Putnam, a grebe who leaves his pond when his favorite food runs out. He has a number of adventures and ends up in an underground spring that appears to have no exit. There are other grebes there, though, and it's safe, so Putnam comes to accept it as his new home. Then, Pennyroyal, a least grebe arrives. Unlike the others, she longs for adventure and desperately wants to find a way out of the spring. Putnam is moved by her need and works to help her escape. As this story unfolds, sideline conversations between Frank and Cora provide insights into their personalities and relationship. It also becomes evident that the story is Frank's somewhat clumsy attempt at explaining himself to his niece. The story-within-a-story device is intriguing; however, neither the human nor bird characters are developed strongly enough to make their tales compelling. Young nature lovers might initially be interested in the grebes' adventures, but they (like Cora) will soon discover Uncle Frank's motive in telling the story. Unlike Cora, however, they have no vested interest in finding out how it all ends.
Arwen Marshall, New York Public Library Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
From Jennings (Faith and the Rocket Cat, 1998, etc.), a quirky tale of two grebes with very different characters. Last of his clutch to hatch, Putnam responds to his mother's neglect by teaching himself to dive, feed and, after the rest of the family departs unnoticed, fly. Seeing the world as a scary, dangerous place, he dives into a strange pond and, pulled by a deep current into an underwater cave, makes no effort to find a way out. In fact, the cave is filled with grebes, all huddled on ledges, unspeaking. Into this lightless, cheerless place splashes chatty, social, adventuresome Pennyroyal Grebe who, despite her best efforts to get acquainted, is so determinedly shunned by all that she begins to pine away. Finally, Putnam breaks ranks to feed her, and then to look for escape. Presenting this as a tale told to a feisty, skeptical nine-year-old, Jennings insists that there's no lesson here, although thoughtful readers, like the child, will see through that claim. His story-within-the-story ends with Pennyroyal gone and Putnam still nerving himself to follow, but the child supplies a happy ending. Readers expecting an animal adventure along the lines of Avi's, or Dick King-Smith's, will be underwhelmed by this chewy allegory. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 10-12) --
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