Pasture Bedtime (Orca Echoes: Charlie's Rules #1)

by Sigmund Brouwer (Author) Sabrina Gendron (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade
Series: Orca Echoes

There's no rulebook for living on a veterinary farm for sick animals ― unless you make one yourself!

Eleven-year-old Charlie Dembinski likes to keep his life organized and quiet. This is a challenge when you live on a farm where your mother runs a veterinary clinic for the local livestock, neighbors’ pets and sometimes rescued wildlife. To complicate Charlie’s orderly life even further, his mother hires a bookkeeper to live on the farm who brings along her daughter, Amy Ma. And Amy is anything but quiet! Her constant questions and attempts to spend time with Charlie really bother him, and he doesn’t understand why the adults seem to like her so much. But when a neighbor’s beloved dog gets sick with a mysterious illness, Charlie realizes that Amy’s outgoing approach might not be all that bad.

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Kirkus

The solid writing delivers a straightforward and charming plot, ideal for young readers transitioning to chapter books.

School Library Journal

Gr 1-3--Charlie enjoys living on a farm most of the time. He likes to keep his life organized and quiet, but this is hard when his mother runs a veterinary clinic on the farm. To help keep it organized, he has a rule notebook for every situation he encounters. This time, however, he doesn't have a rule in his book for how to deal with his mom's new bookkeeper's daughter, Amy. She's loud, very disorganized, and Charlie doesn't understand why adults like her. These aren't his only challenges: A beloved dog gets sick, a puppy gets mistreated and left at the shelter by its owner, and a cow gets stuck in a tree. Can Charlie learn to navigate his new friendship and the wacky mishaps at the farm? Charlie and Amy are delightful, engaging, funny characters. The well-written plot is simple and easy to follow for beginning and reluctant readers. The detailed illustrations are eye-catching and work well with the text. VERDICT Fans of humor, animal fiction, and friendship stories will enjoy this book. Recommended for most library collections.--Kira Moody, Salt Lake County Lib. Svcs.

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

"Use Pasture Bedtime for curriculum enhancement, or just read it for the fun of an enjoyable read. Highly Recommended."— "CM: Canadian Review of Materials"
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781459825888
Lexile Measure
550
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Orca Book Publishers
Publication date
February 16, 2021
Series
Orca Echoes
BISAC categories
JUV039060 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Friendship
JUV002090 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Farm Animals
JUV025000 - Juvenile Fiction | Lifestyles | Farm Life & Ranch Life
JUV024000 - Juvenile Fiction | Lifestyles | Country Life
Library of Congress categories
Friendship
Women veterinarians
Farm life
Veterinarians
Helpfulness
Orderliness
Optimism
Helping behavior in children
Optimism in children

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