SEALS ARE JERKS!

Lorelei especially loves seals because of their friendship with penguins…or so she believes.

The tan-skinned child creates an album filled with photos showing seals’ many great attributes and presents it with great enthusiasm at school. But she is shocked when a penguin in the class (don’t ask) announces that seals eat penguins and therefore are jerks. Lorelei embarks on a fact-finding trip to prove that this loudmouthed penguin is completely wrong. Told in an interwoven mesh of brief narrative text and emotionally charged cartoon illustrations that include colorful pink, green, and orange speech bubbles, the book follows Lorelei to the local zoo and library and then on a plane to Antarctica, where she meets a group of penguins and a seal who tell her the truth. Her exaggerated facial expressions and body language dominate the pages as she becomes overwhelmed by disbelief, disappointment, hopelessness, and anger and responds with huge bursts of temper. But she is also tremendously resourceful and has some hilarious ideas about how to reconcile seals and penguins. (Think peanut butter and jelly.) Lorelei finally grasps that that animals cannot change their nature and finds a new perspective and new pages for her album. Observant readers will discover many twists and surprises and will commiserate with and cheer for Lorelei, the penguins, and, yes, even the seal. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Thoroughly delightful.