Reviews from 4—7 years
3 Apr 2008
Caroline Sanderson trawls through a sea of books to bring you six of the best catches on the market
Pop-Up Ocean IQ by Roger Priddy (Priddy Books, ISBN 9781843324485)
Pop-Up Ocean IQ packs an ocean of facts, and considerable pop-up punch into just six double-page spreads, covering all manner of marine creatures from Whales and Dolphins, Starfish and Octopuses, to those ever-fascinating Sharks. Nuggets of text are accompanied by scale diagrams to show how big each animal is relative to us humans (in some cases, very big indeed!) and must-know IQ facts which give you the low-down on habitats, dimensions and behaviour. Children will glean such irresistible details as ‘Sea horses are the only animals in the world where the males get pregnant’, and ‘The most poisonous sea creature in the world is the box jellyfish’. And – the pièce de résistance – as you turn each new page, a dynamic sea creature pops out in striking photo 3D, including leaping dolphins, a spiky porcupine fish, seahorses in coral, and of course, a couple of those spine-chilling sharks. Fun, informative and a jolly good catch for the money.
The Three Fishing Brothers Gruff by Ben Galbraith (Hodder Children’s Books, ISBN 9780340893425)
In this witty reworking of the familiar fairytale, the Billy Goats Gruff are reinvented as three mean fisherman brothers named Anglo, Anvil and Angora. Every morning, they set sail from Poverty Bay, to haul as many fish as they can from the sea, with not a care for the consequences. Soon there are no fish left and the Gruffs train their greedy eyes on the nearby Bay of Plenty. But a guardian Minke Whale is determined to protect its fish stocks and drive the voracious brothers from its waters. And when the townspeople join in the fight, the tide begins to turn against the wicked Gruffs. Ben Galbraith’s quirky, collage-like illustrations are as sludge-coloured as polluted Poverty Bay when the Gruffs have trawled there. The inclusion of photographic motifs of dead fish, and litter washed up on the shore might sound unappealing, but they give extra impact to this affecting cautionary tale for young children about the harm we can do to our environment by overfishing and polluting our seas.
If Mum and Me Were Mermaids by Pauline Stewart and Miriam Latimer (Hodder Children’s Books, ISBN 9780340931561)
‘If Mum and me were mermaids, We’d play every day, And sit upon the shiny rocks, And braid our hair this way’. This warm and appealing celebration of the mother-daughter relationship is also a paean to the power of the imagination, as a small girl and her mother grow fishy tails, don shell-like bikini tops and make for the seashore. There they frolic to their hearts’ content, swimming and diving, caring for sea creatures, searching for treasures, and singing in the waves, before flopping on the beach for a well-deserved picnic of cocoa milkshakes and juicy peaches. Pauline Stewart’s engaging verse chimes well with Miriam Latimer’s cheerful illustrations, realised in rich shades of jade and amber and dotted with happy sea creatures, eager to join in the fun. A cute treat for wannabe mermaids, or those who just love spending time with Mum.
Think of an Eel by Karen Wallace and Mike Bostock (Walker Books, ISBN 9781406312027)
Eels have always been mysterious creatures and even today, many facts about these strange fish remain a secret. Karen Wallace’s lyrical text perfectly captures the many marvels of their remarkable lives we do know about, notably the incredible journey eels make from the weedy Sargasso Sea, to rivers across Europe and North America, before returning again to spawn and die. Even children who find such slithery creatures hard to love will be won over by the idea of baby eels which look like ‘shoelaces made out of glass’, or adult eels with their ‘eyes like blackcurrants which bulge into headlamps’. Mike Bostock’s sinuous, marine-toned illustrations are almost abstract in feel, and artfully complement the poetry of the text. First published in 1993, Think of an Eel is now available in this new paperback edition which includes a 15-minute CD of the book, evocatively read by actor Stephen Tompkinson.
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The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor by James Riordan and Shelley Fowles (Frances Lincoln, ISBN 9781845075316)
A spirited retelling of the seven voyages of Sinbad the Sailor from the Arabian Nights, which captures something of the magical allure of the original, with its coconuts and pearls, seething whirlpools, diamond-strewn valleys, and man-eating ogres. Riordan charts all the thrills and spills in a lively, upbeat style, which is just as well given Sinbad’s brushes with cannibals, and bone-sucking giants. Shelley Fowles’ cartoon-like illustrations are naïve in style, and not as sumptuous as these exotic stories might perhaps have merited. But their contemporary feel does help bring the story into the here and now: appropriate when you consider that Sinbad sets sail from the land that is now Iraq. Fowles also includes some nice comic touches, setting one section of text inside the jaws of a sea monster for example, and making colourful use of the endpapers for a map of the mysterious lands to which Sinbad voyages. It’s expensive for a relatively short hardback picture book, but then you do get seven voyages for your money.
Melrose and Croc Beside the Sea by Emma Chichester Clark (HarperCollins Children’s Books, ISBN 9780007182442)
Once again, Emma Chichester Clark of Blue Kangaroo fame turns on her considerable illustrative charm in this, the fourth book to star Melrose (the dog) and Croc (the croc). Little Green Croc is in a strop, and behaving more like ‘Little Green Cross’. He won’t tell Melrose what is wrong even though Melrose tries to cheer him up by hinting at a trip to the beach. Croc refuses to play beach ball, until suddenly, he cottons on. And then towels over arms, and buckets in hand, the two friends scamper happily down to the shore where they discover what is ‘wet and slimy and falls on your nose’ (seaweed) and ‘what is yellow and hairy and runs very fast’ (Melrose). This delightful tale captures all the exuberance of the seaside for the youngest age-groups, and ends with a mention for that stuff which is ‘icy, white and tastes very nice’.
