This first volume in Animal Rescue Team, a new series for middle-grade readers, introduces Carters' Urban Rescue, a family business that specializes in rescuing wild animals from a Michigan neighborhood. In their debut adventure, the mixed-race Carters remove an alligator from a city swimming pool and try to find a suitable home for the critter. The mother, Fayola, and the baby, Paulo, take secondary roles, and Grandma Alice and little Razzi are more often accidentally helpful than productively so. Keisha, 10, and her dad, Fred, are the brains behind the operation. Teamwork and competency emerge as major themes, as Keisha and her father channel the often well-meaning energy of friends and family to help to keep the team on track and the animals safely dispatched to a suitable environment. The author works information about alligators naturally into the text and peoples her book with animal-welfare members from her own community. Situational comedy, appealing spot art, and a personable protagonist will give this series broad appeal. The second series installment, Special Delivery, is being released simultaneously.

Ten-year-old Keisha Carter knows a lot about alligators thanks to a report she wrote last year in school. Her knowledge gets a good workout when one shows up at the Grand River City, Mich., public pool, and her parent's company, Carter's Urban Rescue, gets the call from the pool manager. Keisha, her fashion- (and age-) conscious Grandma, her father and her rambunctious five-year-old brother, Razi, head out to save the day. Trapping the young gator is only the beginning of their adventure, since Pumpkin-Petunia, as Razi dubs her, turns out to be an escape artist. Good thing Keisha's friends are as can-do as she is. Stauffacher's first of a new series, with two more slated for this year, will please the animal lovers of the comfortable-with-chapters set. If it belabors environmental consciousness, seems self-consciously multicultural and swings toward the didactic when animal issues come up, fans of the Animal Ark series won't mind. (Though all will be glad Razi's not their younger brother, since he pushes the bratty-brother envelope often.) Lamont's spot and full-page illustrations are a nice addition. (Fiction. 7-10)

Stauffacher%C2%92s (Donutheart) Animal Rescue Team series opens with a slightly overwritten story introducing a Michigan family that runs a wildlife rehabilitation service. After 10-year-old Keisha Carter; her younger brother, Razi; and their father and grandmother rescue an alligator that has wandered into the city pool, the creature escapes from the family%C2%92s bathtub (where they%C2%92ve placed it for safekeeping), necessitating a second rescue. Called upon to evaluate the gator%C2%92s condition, a zoo employee helps deliver the moral: alligators don%C2%92t make suitable pets and often can%C2%92t survive when released into the wild by their owners. Keisha is a virtual encyclopedia of facts about alligators and other animals, and the sheer chaos of the Carter family%C2%92s multiracial household%C2%97with friends and neighbors constantly popping in%C2%97keeps the story moving. The environmental message, though, is delivered with a somewhat heavy hand, and the humor%C2%97largely generated by unconvincingly eccentric Grandma (who%C2%92s obsessed with fashion and looking young) and grating chatterbox Razi%C2%97can feel forced, though animal lovers are unlikely to mind. The series continues in July with Special Delivery! Ages 8%C2%9610. (May)

STAUFFACHER, Sue . Special Delivery! Bk. 2. 164p. ISBN 978-0-375-85848-2 ; ISBN 978-0-375-95848-9 . LC 2009023174. ea vol: illus. by Priscilla Lamont. (Animal Rescue Team Series). CIP. Knopf / Borzoi . 2010. Tr $12.99; PLB $15.99. Gr 4-6 These stories detail the exploits of 10-year-old Keisha Carter's family as wildlife rehabilitators in Michigan. In the first title, they rescue a wandering alligator from the city pool. The creature gets lost one more time, and a frantic search ensues before it is finally transported to an alligator sanctuary. In Special Delivery , they rescue a wayward skunk, a baby crow, and an injured dog. Though the cast of animal characters is different in each book, certain themes persist. Readers will learn that it is important to treat wildlife appropriately and that each animal is different in terms of how one should interact with it. Another mainstay is the abundance of cozy, safe family moments, and the fact that each scenario draws to a realisticyet gentleconclusion. Cheerful cartoon illustrations highlight the overall snug and secure feeling. The books don't necessarily challenge readers emotionally, but they are solid nonetheless and will find an audience with animal lovers and those who enjoy mellow realistic fiction.— Amy Holland, Hamlin Public Library, Rochester, NY