Kira's Animal Rescue

American Girl: Kira

by Erin Teagan, Millie Liu (Illustrator)

In this second book of her series, Kira teams up with a student at the animal sanctuary to track down the paradise parrot—a bird thought to be extinct—and prove that it still exists. While they’re trying to observe the elusive bird, bushfires threaten to wipe out the sanctuary and the parrot’s habitat. There’s no choice but to evacuate all the animals, which is a huge task even without trying to track down a missing baby wallaby. As the bushfires rage out of control, Kira makes a disturbing discovery. Should she keep her mouth shut—or tell a painful truth?

Genres: Middle Grade, Childrens

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Panda Incognito · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has a significantly better plot and story arc than the first book, and is much better organized as a whole. However, it is just as preachy and heavy-handed about Truth In Science and climate change as the back cover description made it sound, and I still did not like it at all. I ended up skimming through it fairly quickly, just to get to the end.

Also, the same comment about the LGBTQ rep in the first book remains relevant: Parents who don't want their children reading books involving same-sex marriage will disapprove of this, and parents who want sexual diversity in children's books will be disappointed with how completely irrelevant the lesbian aunts are to the story. They disappear even further in this book, are only minor background players, rarely appear together, and receive no character development alone or as a couple. This approach pleases no one, alienating a swathe of American Girl fans without offering anything of substance to people who wanted the company's focus to change.

[Mgrones · Rating 2 out of 5]

The second book is better than the first one and has an interesting plot. Kira's aunts are married lesbians, in a book targeted to 8 year olds, and adults who buy the book or who allow children to read it from the library need to know that. It is not discussed in this second book, but the picture of their wedding is copied from the first book. These books are written to market an American Girl doll. The story takes place entirely in Australia, and a fight with Kira's best friend, in Michigan, that was mentioned in book one is never resolved or mentioned again. Although it is an okay stand alone story, American Girl truly missed the mark with this one.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked how this book was very science and research integrity based. I enjoyed reading the stories in the back about kids invoking real change and I liked how the story covered the effects of the climate crisis in Australia. We know from the news and we know form our friends there that this is real and only getting worse. It was great to learn alongside Kira about wildlife in a foreign country.

[Pamela Holtz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished reading this book with my 9 year old daughter, and after reading two books from Kira, we both agree that she might be our new favorite American Girl! It hit my daughter's heart perfectly with a focus on zoology and environmental science -- and it approaches handling mild anxiety/slight perfectionist tendencies really well. Highly recommend!

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sweet adventure story from the American Girl franchise stars Kira, a young girl with a passion for studying wild animals and hopes to become a wildlife scientist some day. While visiting her family's wildlife rehabilitation center/wildlife sanctuary in Australia, Kira is stunned to learn an out-of-control brushfire is heading their way. On top of that, a student researcher has announced that she's found evidence a parrot species believed to be extinct is alive and well on sanctuary property.

There are messages about honesty and truthfulness, friendship, and the power of individuals to affect their world. As climate change is a major driver of more frequent and more intense brushfires, discussion of climate science is woven into the story as well. KIRA'S ANIMAL RESCUE is an engaging, hopeful read for elementary/middle school students, and will have special appeal for those who enjoy animal adventure stories.

A section at the book's conclusion profiles real girls who are working to protect the environment--and I wanted to stand up and cheer when I saw the climate impact of dietary choices FINALLY make their way into a kids' environmental book, courtesy of a profile of the amazing Genesis Butler! Thank you, Ms. Teagan and American Girl, for acknowledging this most important issue.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kira's Animal Rescue is the second of American Girl's Kira books. The emphasis on climate-change protests and the importance of truth in science is good, if a bit heavy-handed.

Three things that seemed a bit off:
-The multitude of lines like "finding an extinct bird living here". If a living specimen is confirmed, a species didn't actually go extinct, it was just thought to, yeah?
-It didn't seem right to me that Evie would get in so much trouble with her school. Technically, she never made any false claims to the research community. Evie considered doing so, but didn't Kira talk her out of it before Evie could even lie to Lynette, let alone write or publish a paper?
-The back matter that talks about girls involved in climate-change protests alludes to Greta Thunberg by just calling her "a girl named Greta". I understand that many of the real-life girls AG features are likely concerned about their personal privacy and so are only referred to with their first name, but with someone who's such a well-known public figure it just seemed odd. Was there some legal issue?

[Olivia Spreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely enjoyed this one more than the first book. Kira is not one of my favorite girl of the years, for a few reasons, but I think American Girl did a really good job of making this book relevant to today. The issues of Global Warming and the bush fires were very topical, something that not all girl of the years have and it felt more action-packed than other girl of the year books.

[irene del mar · Rating 5 out of 5]

While, again, I don't like the illustrations (they seem kind of half-baked to me), this book has a hard-hitting plot and is better than the first one. The plot is tighter, the lessons clearer, and the stakes higher. More things actually happen.

[Jaime · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and held our interest, but so so sad! From start to finish — all too sad for me and my girls (age 8.5). We had to read a “palate cleanser” picture book every night because this was too sad to go to sleep after!

[Cristi Schwamb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than the first book in the series. We’d give it 3.5 stars and rounded up.

[Maya Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

again read this for the meme- the bushfire part def would’ve scared me as a kid lol cute story love ag <3

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the last. But feels... unfinished? A weird little mystery added for some spice. Kira's books just aren't my cup of tea.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about climate change and truth in science. Not sure what is wrong with that like the other poster said. We need more topics like this.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

when did American girl books become more like this as opposed to Josefina or felicity

[AurorainBookland · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the wallaby Joey hops out of the net the story skips to the next day and it feels like the story is missing something.

Page 56 "You girls mind lobbing in on Evie to bring her some brekky?"
Lobbing throw or hit (a ball or missile) in a high arc. Should have said "check in on."


Page 29 "Alexis sneezed..."sorry!" Alexis squeaked. "Science is quite!" I whispered with a snort because we knew that quite was not one of Alexis's strengths."

Should have had Alexis talk or step on a twig because you can't control when you sneeze and trying to hold back a sneeze isn't healthy.

Never says what the unknown bird call was.
You never find out if Evie gets expelled or not.

[Eva B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full series review for Kira:
A solid addition to the GOTY lineup. I don't know why so many of their storylines involve travelling to other countries to see cute animals--the cynic in me says "so they can make cute plushes". I liked the side queer representation of Kira's aunts and the storyline about how climate change is impacting Australian wildlife, as well as that Kira seems to have some form of anxiety, though it's never outright confirmed on-page.

[Kaelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book! It was very educational about nature, Australian wildlife, and bushfires. If I had one negative to state, it would be that the author regularly switched between one of the character’s full name and nickname. While it was never confusing, it did get annoying. I could not figure out a reason for switching; it seemed random to me.
Would recommend this book to an elementary-aged or middle-school-aged girl!