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COLORS UNDER THE SEA

Name: COLORS UNDER THE SEA
Author: Michael Garton
ISBN: 978-1-60727-700-2

From the I Can Find series

illustrated by Michael Garton ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 2012

A cheery-enough chance to meet some denizens of the deep.

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Young scuba divers get up close and personal with creatures they find in the ocean.

Barely serviceable rhyming couplets hold the focus on brightly colored ocean animals. “In our orange submarine / we dive down with a swish / All the orange creatures / Think that we're an orange fish!” (The name of each color is rendered in matching type.) Softly rounded characters are undeniably child-friendly. Scalloped edges on the cover resemble waves and provide background for tabs with smiling fish on them. A circle inset in the corner of each scene provides a visual key to the creatures depicted; an accompanying question encourages audience participation (“Can you find…”). Each double-page spread highlights a different shade. Countdown by the Sea presents the numbers from 10 down to one in similar fashion.

A cheery-enough chance to meet some denizens of the deep. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: May 15, 2012

ISBN: 978-1-60727-700-2

Page Count: 20

Publisher: Palm Kids

Review Posted Online: June 13, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
WHOSE NOSE?
by Sue Tarsky ; illustrated by Michael Garton

- BOOK REVIEW
HAL AND THE VERY LONG RACE
by Lucy Bell ; illustrated by Michael Garton

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SMILE, POUT-POUT FISH

by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 7, 2014

An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to.

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This simplified version of Diesen and Hanna’s The Pout-Pout Fish (2008) is appropriate for babies and toddlers.

Brief, rhyming text tells the story of a sullen fish cheered up with a kiss. A little pink sea creature pokes his head out of a hole in the sea bottom to give the gloomy fish some advice: “Smile, Mr. Fish! / You look so down // With your glum-glum face / And your pout-pout frown.” He explains that there’s no reason to be worried, scared, sad or mad and concludes: “How about a smooch? / And a cheer-up wish? // Now you look happy: / What a smile, Mr. Fish!” Simple and sweet, this tale offers the lesson that sometimes, all that’s needed for a turnaround in mood is some cheer and encouragement to change our perspective. The clean, uncluttered illustrations are kept simple, except for the pout-pout fish’s features, which are delightfully expressive. Little ones will easily recognize and likely try to copy the sad, scared and angry looks that cross the fish’s face.

An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-374-37084-8

Page Count: 12

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WORRY-WORRY WHALE AND THE CLASSROOM JITTERS
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

- BOOK REVIEW
POUT-POUT FISH
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

- BOOK REVIEW
THE POUT-POUT FISH AND THE MAD, MAD DAY
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

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ALL ABOUT ME

From the Look & Learn series

by National Geographic ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 11, 2014

Clear nonfiction for the very young is hard to come by, and it appears that the Look & Learn series may finally be on...

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An exploration of the human body through colorful photos.

Every other double-page spread labels the individual parts on one major area: head, torso, back, arm and leg. Ethnically diverse boy-girl pairs serve as models as arrows point to specific features and captions float nearby. While the book usefully mentions rarely depicted body parts, such as eyebrow, armpit and shin, some of the directional arrows are unclear. The arrow pointing at a girl’s shoulder hits her in the upper arm, and the belly button is hard is distinguish from the stomach (both are concealed by shirts). Facts about the human body (“Guess what? You have tiny hairs in your nose that keep out dirt”) appear on alternating spreads along with photos of kids in action. Baby Animals, another title in the Look & Learn series, uses an identical format to introduce readers to seal pups, leopard cubs, elephant calves, ducklings and tadpoles. In both titles, the final spread offers a review of the information and encourages readers to match baby animals to their parents or find body parts on a photo of kids jumping on a trampoline.

Clear nonfiction for the very young is hard to come by, and it appears that the Look & Learn series may finally be on the right track despite earlier titles that were much too conceptual for the audience. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)