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A review by thedizzyreader
Skunked!: Calpurnia Tate, Girl Vet by Jacqueline Kelly
1.0
Wow. Not in a good way.
Calpurnia and her brother love the outdoors for very different reasons. Calpurnia wants to be a scientist, and Travis just wants a pet. But when Travis brings home first one baby skunk and then another, things get complicated! Chaos ensues when Travis brings the cute but lethal critters to the schoolhouse.
I really wanted to like this story and recommend it to my young animal fiction fans, but I can't. The author relies heavily on "crazy" and "insane" as descriptors, which is irritating enough. But the ending scene in the schoolhouse, where the teacher gives a brief lesson on Texas history before being interrupted by the skunks, was even worse.
The teacher in this story completely glosses over the fact that slavery was a huge motivator in the conflict, instead painting it as a brave fight of Texans against Mexico for independence. The author also has the teacher describe General Santa Anna and his Mexican troops as lazy and incompetent, so stupid they took a siesta without keeping watch - and thus the brave Texans naturally won the day. Racism much? (By the way, this exhausted siesta came after General Santa Anna's troops came off a two day nonstop march).
There is no nuance to this discussion, no further resources in the end pages to help young readers and their families have a conversation about this moment in time, no facts - just bias.
Calpurnia and her brother love the outdoors for very different reasons. Calpurnia wants to be a scientist, and Travis just wants a pet. But when Travis brings home first one baby skunk and then another, things get complicated! Chaos ensues when Travis brings the cute but lethal critters to the schoolhouse.
I really wanted to like this story and recommend it to my young animal fiction fans, but I can't. The author relies heavily on "crazy" and "insane" as descriptors, which is irritating enough. But the ending scene in the schoolhouse, where the teacher gives a brief lesson on Texas history before being interrupted by the skunks, was even worse.
The teacher in this story completely glosses over the fact that slavery was a huge motivator in the conflict, instead painting it as a brave fight of Texans against Mexico for independence. The author also has the teacher describe General Santa Anna and his Mexican troops as lazy and incompetent, so stupid they took a siesta without keeping watch - and thus the brave Texans naturally won the day. Racism much? (By the way, this exhausted siesta came after General Santa Anna's troops came off a two day nonstop march).
There is no nuance to this discussion, no further resources in the end pages to help young readers and their families have a conversation about this moment in time, no facts - just bias.