The Appletree Animal Agency - Katya Balen - ★★★★.½

AUTHOR: Katya Balen

ILLUSTRATOR: Gill Smith

SERIES: Appletree Animal Agency, #1

GENRE: Middle-Grade Fiction.

PUBLICATION DATE: March 6, 2025

RATING: 4.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A wonderful middle-grade animal adventure story. Amazing plot, diverse human characters, adorable animals, great life lessons, excellent illustrations. Much recommended!

Plot Preview:

Mattie’s dad loves his only daughter but doesn’t believe her capable of handling responsibility. As such, Mattie’s deepest desire of wanting her own puppy stays unfulfilled. As a relentless animal lover, she finds solace by helping the local vet and playing with her friends’ pets.

When there’s a new vet in town, Mattie and her best friend Zoe both volunteer to help Dr. Polly, who also happens to be an animal rescuer, and her son Casper navigate the chaos of handling so many rescue animals, and maybe even to find forever homes for them. But is Mattie responsible enough to handle such a big task?

The story comes to us in Mattie’s third-person perspective.

This isn't my first Katya Balen novel. I have read four of her books so far, and in each of them, there are some features you will find consistently: relatable child characters, realistic emotional struggles, amazing animals, and excellent nature descriptions. In fact, she is among the few children’s fiction writers who pays so much attention to natural imagery even when writing a character-driven book. I simply love the vividness of her writing. This book is no exception.

The content reminded me of the wonderful animal adventure stories by Enid Blyton I used to read in my childhood. This has the same old-world charm, partly because the story is set in a small village filled with loveable characters, many of whom seem to know each other. All the characters are endearing, and none are shown as perfect. They make mistakes, and they learn from their mistakes.

There are four children with prominent roles in the book: Mattie, Zoe, Casper, and Nate (not as main as the other three). Each of them has a distinct personality, and I love how the story shows them working together (mostly) in harmony and making the best of their individual strengths. The three main children get an equal role to play in the plot, even though we get the story from Mattie’s perspective. I appreciate this; children’s books where the lead character does everything alone don’t set a realistic standard nor the right example for kids.

There are plenty of important positive values in the book such as sharing, helping/volunteering, respecting your parents’ opinion, making the best of a disappointing situation, persevering towards your dreams, working as a team, and always giving your best even when you aren’t sure of the result. The book also highlights how mere good intentions aren’t enough without a concrete action plan. All important lessons for today’s children.

I would have liked a couple of background details added to the plot. For instance, knowing the age of the children. Little readers are free to assume that a middle-grade book will have middle-grade-aged children, but there is much difference in what a ten-year-old can do independently vis-à-vis what a fourteen-year-old can do.

(Also, a plot-related query I genuinely wanted answered – who was matched with the iguana???)

There is only one parent mentioned for each of the three main child characters. Mattie has her dad, while Zoe and Casper have their respective mums. I suppose this is a new normal in today’s world with so many single-parent families. But I wish there had been some mention of the other parent at least for Mattie. That said, I did appreciate the depiction of the parents. None of them bend over backwards for the children but present a good balance of friendly plus firm. At the same time, they aren’t shown as flawless adults. Mattie’s dad has a habit of repeatedly calling her too whimsical, which he doesn’t mean as an insult but it affects her self-confidence – a good lesson here for parents (and kids) here to stop labelling anyone negatively.

As the title and the cover indicate, there are many animals in this book, and not just the usual dogs and cats. Little animal lovers will enjoy the escapades of the creatures, especially the adventure with the ferret and the antics of the goat. Of the Katya Balen books I have read so far, this is the only one that has so many comical scenes. Her stories are usually more on the sombre and introspective side even though aimed at kids. I loved discovering this new aspect of her writing.

The book is peppered with gorgeous B&W illustrations on every page. All the sketches are rich in detail and elevate the reading experience even further.

This is the first of a planned animal adventure series, and based on this amazing initial experience, I would surely love to read every future book that the Appletree Animal Agency will be a part of.

Much recommended! This middle-grade story will be a delight for little and not-so-little animal lovers. It would work wonderfully in homes as well as classrooms, and also be a great gifting option.

My thanks to Walker Books for providing the DRC of “The Appletree Animal Agency” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.