"In this alliterative zoo tale, peppy purple peacock Plum befriends Jeremy, a sad and solitary street kitty, who returns the favor by saving all the peafowl from a frightening fate. . . . The expressive ink-and-wash animal portraits that pack his short chapters of well-paced narrative are done in a fanciful style. . . . A buoyant tale for younger middle grade readers, with a mild dose of danger for spice and an extroverted protagonist on a mission to 'mingle, guide, delight.' - School Library Journal
"Plum the peacock . . . and the rest of his flock are charged with welcoming and interacting with the human visitors . . . But trouble is brewing in the form of disgruntled ningbing Itch, a tiny Australian marsupial who seethes about the unfairness of his own captivity . . . The story is a hoot . . . Young readers will relish this splendid hullabaloo at the zoo." - Booklist
"A bighearted peacock with boundless cheer stars in this lively zoo caper by Phelan. . . . Peacocks have long been official guest ambassadors at the Athensville Zoo . . . but not everyone is happy about the arrangement, especially not a dour, power-hungry marsupial called Itch . . . With occasional grayscale art presented alongside amusingly self-important, cinematically rendered characters, Phelan offers winning animalian antics for chapter book beginners." - Publishers Weekly
"Plum the peacock is content with his life at Athensville Zoo . . . [but] Itch the ningbing has had it with all the peacocks strutting around, mingle-guide-delighting visitors. With the help of some devious squirrels, he enacts a brilliantly evil plan to overthrow the birds' reign. . . . Both accessible and goofy, with a cast of amusingly quirky characters and a surprising amount of emotional weight. . . . An instant hit with kids who like to root for the underdog (cat? bird?)." - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"The peacocks at the Athensville zoo have the privilege of roaming the premises, welcoming visitors with their impressive fantails with instructions to 'Mingle! Guide! Delight!' Jealous ningbing Itch, a resident of the Small and Unusual Mammal Pavilion, decides that he has had enough of the free-ranging peacocks . . . [and] frames the peacocks for a series of small thefts. . . . A heavily illustrated novel . . . has the visual presentation, lively characters, and fast plot that make for a friendly experience for early-chapter-book readers." - Horn Book Magazine

Publisher: Bound to Stay Bound Books

Pub date: 2022-06-07

Length: 114 pages