An easy-to-understand guide with an important message for young shell collectors.
A simple rhyme helps beachgoers learn how to care for sand dollars in Creel’s picture book.
An anonymous narrator welcomes readers to the wonders of the beach, where there are many treasures, including shells, stones, and sand dollars, which are all easy to find along the shore. The text notes that sand dollars are animals, and that brown ones are still alive. Gray ones are not and have dried out in the sun. The narrator then explains how to handle the latter and prepare to take them home, ending with a rhyming rule: “If it’s brown leave it down; if it’s grey, it’s okay.” Creel’s simple phrasing is easy to memorize and is sure to inspire youngsters to be more mindful about what they collect at the seashore. The small amount of text on each page, geared toward emergent or lap readers, is presented in straightforward couplets, making the book an approachable way to introduce an animal-friendly concept. Keywords are presented in a different color to draw the eye. Kres’ soft-edged, full-color illustrations present two large-eyed children, one with bronze skin and blond hair, and another with paler skin and dark hair. The bright shells and mostly realistic sand dollars will give readers a solid idea of what to look for on the sand.
An easy-to-understand guide with an important message for young shell collectors.Pub Date: June 14, 2023
ISBN: 9798398345582
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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