Runabouts

A splashy children’s story about bullying and friendship.

Bright-blue boat Sunny Laport is ready to hit the water, and Harvey the forklift happily pulls him from storage. Following a quick tow from Randel the shiny truck, Sunny is soon in the cool blue lake. He creeps quietly through the No Wake zone, then revs his motor and takes off to meet up with his boat friends, who are already waiting to see him. Sunny, red speedboat Tommy and old wooden boat Chris have a great time together, and they meet pink sports craft Molly G on the way to the sandbar. They spend a lovely day racing around the lake until Sharky, a sleek, black racer, comes along to tease and insult the group and rough Chris up. After he leaves, the crew continues on and runs into a few more obstacles they must work together to overcome. Jenkins’ love for boating shines brightly throughout his debut, which appears to be aimed at very young children; older kids may be less excited by its simple story and illustrations. Its overarching theme is clear: When friends put their heads together, they can accomplish anything. (Sunny even goes so far as to tell his friends how proud he is of them.) The book touches upon the hot-button issue of bullying, helpfully encouraging the audience to find support in friends and others around them. The story ends abruptly after the key conflict is resolved, however, and might have benefited from a few more pages to wrap things up—or perhaps a note on what happened to the gang. Jenkins’ illustrations are rudimentary but colorful and may engage kids who are interested in boats, trucks and other vehicles.

A bright, simple children’s story about the power of working together.