A gentle and tender cautionary tale that avoids excessive didacticism.
A little sailor in a small boat saves a whale from death by plastic.
As the sea churns and rages, a little boat and its White sailor are in desperate trouble (“Mayday! Mayday!”), but a massive whale named Blue comes to the rescue. The small sailor, now snug and safe in a lighthouse, wishes Blue good night: “Blue, Blue…you are beautiful. Blue, Blue…good night.” The next day the sailor searches for Blue and frets when it doesn’t appear. Blue is deep beneath the sea and not feeling well. After entering the whale’s mouth, the sailor discovers that Blue’s belly is filled with plastic bags. In an effort to help the whale, the little sailor gathers all the bags and carries them away in the boat, leaving Blue to eat a healthier diet of jellyfish. The next encounter finds Blue leaping happily while the sailor proclaims a loving message to the whale. The caring little sailor’s tale presents basic information about humans’ threats to whales along with a heartfelt exhortation for young readers to join in the effort to save the oceans and the whales. Thin outlines delineate the simple forms of the sailor, the other living creatures, the boat, the lighthouse, and the plastic bags. The whale and its interior, the sky, and the sea dominate these softly colored compositions.
A gentle and tender cautionary tale that avoids excessive didacticism. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: March 22, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-947888-36-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Flyaway Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
A thoughtful role model for aspiring inventors.
In this collaboration from mother/daughter duo Corrigan and Corrigan Lichty, a youngster longs to quit the soccer team so she can continue dreaming up more inventions.
Marianne, a snazzily dressed young maker with tan skin, polka-dot glasses, and reddish-brown hair in two buns, feels out of place on the pitch. Her soccer-loving dad signed her up for the team, but she’d much rather be home tinkering and creating. One day she feigns illness to get out of practice (relying on a trick she learned from the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and uses her newfound time to create a flying machine made from bath towels, umbrellas, cans, and more. Eventually, her dad catches wind of her deception, and she tells him she prefers inventing to playing soccer. Immediately supportive, he plops a pot on his head and becomes Marianne’s tinkering apprentice. Told in lilting rhymes, the story resolves its conflicts rather speedily (Marianne confesses to hating soccer in one swift line). Though the text is wordy at times, it’s quite jaunty, and adults (and retro-loving kids) will chuckle at the ’80s references, from the Ferris Bueller and Dirty Dancing movie posters in Marianne’s room to the name of her dog, Patrick Swayze. True to Marianne’s creative nature, Sweetland surrounds her with lots of clutter and scraps, as well as plenty of bits and bobs. One never knows where inspiration will strike next.
A thoughtful role model for aspiring inventors. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9780593206096
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender...
A polar-bear parent speaks poetically of love for a child.
A genderless adult and cub travel through the landscapes of an arctic year. Each of the softly rendered double-page paintings has a very different feel and color palette as the pair go through the seasons, walking through wintry ice and snow and green summer meadows, cavorting in the blue ocean, watching whales, and playing beside musk oxen. The rhymes of the four-line stanzas are not forced, as is the case too often in picture books of this type: “When cold, winter winds / blow the leaves far and wide, / You’ll cross the great icebergs / with me by your side.” On a dark, snowy night, the loving parent says: “But for now, cuddle close / while the stars softly shine. // I’ll always be yours, / and you’ll always be mine.” As the last illustration shows the pair curled up for sleep, young listeners will be lulled to sweet dreams by the calm tenor of the pictures and the words. While far from original, this timeless theme is always in demand, and the combination of delightful illustrations and poetry that scans well make this a good choice for early-childhood classrooms, public libraries, and one-on-one home read-alouds.
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender restrictions. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-070-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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