THE MUSIC OF THE SEA

Name: THE MUSIC OF THE SEA
Author: Susanna Isern
ISBN: 978-84-16733-28-6

by Susanna Isern ; illustrated by Marta Chicote ; translated by Jon Brokenbrow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2017

Lovely, lyrical text combines skillfully with dreamlike illustrations to create soothing music—with just one off-key note.

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In this picture book translated from the Spanish, a young girl interacts with the music made by the ocean next to her seaside village.

Marina, a young white girl, lives in Lemonsea, a tiny fishing village. When a storm destroys the crops and drives the fish away, everyone but Marina and her white fisherman father, Daniel, leaves to find their living elsewhere. Marina is sad until her father builds a sea organ that is played by the ocean’s tides and currents and the wind. Attracted by the music, whales arrive, and Marina befriends them, even rides them. Eventually the music attracts fish in such abundance that the villagers return, and Lemonsea becomes more prosperous than before. Isern’s lyrical narrative waxes poetic about the sea, whales, and the contentment found in a life close to nature, and Chicote’s illustrations, with their dreamlike quality, enhance the narrative. There’s one off-key note, however, that undermines the harmony-in-nature theme. Chicote includes fanciful characters who have the heads of fish and bodies of humans (they’re not mentioned in the text) interacting in the village alongside regular humans (all white), and readers might wonder who the fish-people are and how they feel about the fishing industry.

Lovely, lyrical text combines skillfully with dreamlike illustrations to create soothing music—with just one off-key note. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017

ISBN: 978-84-16733-28-6

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Cuento de Luz

Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

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PEE AND POO. THE DO’S AND DON'TS TO AVOID MISHAPS
by Susanna Isern ; illustrated by Mar Ferrero ; translated by Cecilia Ross

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THE GIRL WHO WORE PANTS
by Susanna Isern ; illustrated by Esther Gili ; translated by Cecilia Ross

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LITTLE MAGICIAN
by Susanna Isern ; illustrated by Amélie Graux

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
A PERFECT PLACE TO PLAY
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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THE CRAYONS GO BACK TO SCHOOL

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 16, 2023

Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings.

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The Crayons head back to class in this latest series entry.

Daywalt’s expository text lays out the basics as various Crayons wave goodbye to the beach, choose a first-day outfit, greet old friends, and make new ones. As in previous outings, the perennially droll illustrations and hand-lettered Crayon-speak drive the humor. The ever wrapperless Peach, opining, “What am I going to wear?” surveys three options: top hat and tails, a chef’s toque and apron, and a Santa suit. New friends Chunky Toddler Crayon (who’s missing a bite-sized bit of their blue point) and Husky Toddler Crayon speculate excitedly on their common last name: “I wonder if we’re related!” White Crayon, all but disappearing against the page’s copious white space, sits cross-legged reading a copy of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. And Yellow and Orange, notable for their previous existential argument about the color of the sun, find agreement in science class: Jupiter, clearly, is yellow AND orange. Everybody’s excited about art class—“Even if they make a mess. Actually…ESPECIALLY if they make a mess!” Here, a spread of crayoned doodles of butterflies, hearts, and stars is followed by one with fulsome scribbles. Fans of previous outings will spot cameos from Glow in the Dark and yellow-caped Esteban (the Crayon formerly known as Pea Green). (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings. (Picture book. 4-6)