Far-fetched but satisfying.
This lighthearted tale of a child reared by sea lions is completely outlandish yet manages to capably address very real feelings about belonging and identity.
Leo, a young, white, blond boy, is pictured flying out of a boat during a storm even before the title page; he’s subsequently taken in by a family of sea lions. This looks like kid heaven—bodysurfing with sea lion pups, romping in a whale’s spout, and sleeping under the stars—but Leo feels and looks “different,” until he meets ”a creature who looked like him.” This creature, a young biracial, brown-skinned girl with hair in two ponytail puffs, really does look like him: They are both human. Once reunited with his human family, Leo is happy again, but as before, something is amiss. He still says “Ark! Ark!” and misses “his other family…and the sea.” Not explicitly about transracial adoption or blended families, this is about a child longing to belong, and the simultaneous feelings of happiness and alienation here ring true. Vogel’s stylized digital illustrations have an appealingly cartoonish look, with googly eyes on both humans and animals. Humorous scenarios (Leo sitting in a restaurant seafood tank; a sea lion in the bathtub with a gull on its head) visually portray the contrasts Leo feels. The happy ending, when Leo’s human family moves to the seaside so people and sea creatures can live together, is perhaps unrealistically optimistic, but this is a story of a child raised by sea lions, after all.
Far-fetched but satisfying. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5039-0260-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
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The familiar singsong repetitiveness is catchy in all settings, holiday or otherwise.
A hoppy, snappy Easter version of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
Three young tots, with varied skin tones and baskets ready in their hands, eagerly scamper on a spring day to find some eggs. But of course, they meet hindrances along the way. “Ooh, look … // Chickens! / Flapping, pecking chickens.” Thus starts the rolling refrain: “Can’t go over them. / Can’t go under them. / Can’t go around them. // Got to go through them!” The waddling chickens don’t pose much of an obstacle, but they do “Cluck-cluck!” loudly as they scatter in the sun. The three youngsters then must face “fluffy, hungry bunnies” (adorable long-eared puffballs with carrot fronds in their mouths) and “happy, hopping frogs” as they balance on stones to cross a pond. All of this leads to a garden bursting with colorful flowers (“Rustle-swish! / Rustle-swish!”) and finally…10 eggs in pastel patterns. Each egg has a number on it to encourage readers to count along and strengthen their numeracy skills. Rozelaar’s plump and rounded world, with roly-poly trees, flowers, and hills, wraps the tale in coziness.
The familiar singsong repetitiveness is catchy in all settings, holiday or otherwise. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9798887771304
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
The book is available in just about every format--but this is the perfect one.
It's hard to believe that a pop-up wasn't the creators' original intention, so seamlessly do moveable parts dovetail into this modern classic's storyline.
In contrast to the tale's 1998 pop -up version, the figures here move on every page, and with an unusually graceful naturalism to boot. From pulling down Big Nutbrown Hare's ears on the opening spread to make sure he's listening to drowsily turning his head to accept a final good-night kiss in a multi-leveled pull-down tableau at the close, all of Little Nutbrown Hare's hops, stretches and small gestures serve the poetically spare text—as do Big Nutbrown's wider, higher responses to his charge's challenges. As readers turn a flap to read Big Nutbrown's "But I love you this much," his arms extend to demonstrate. The emotional connection between the two hares is clearer than ever in Jeram's peaceful, restrained outdoor scenes, which are slightly larger than those in the trade edition, and the closing scene is made even more intimate by hiding the closing line ("I love you right up to the moon—and back") until an inconspicuous flap is opened up.
The book is available in just about every format--but this is the perfect one. (Pop-up picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5378-1
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
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