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Synopsis
Spend a day at the beach, and take in the ocean through the senses of sight, hearing, feeling, taste, and smell in this lively romp through sand and waves. Glorious illustrations of water, sun, and sky accompany brief, evocative verses, making this a perfect keepsake of a seaside vacation or a striking introduction to the pleasures of a day by the ocean.
Pam Muoz Ryan drew on her childrens and her own experiences of the ocean in writing the poetic text of Hello Ocean. She is the author of many books for children, including The Flag We Love, California, Here We Come!, Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride (Scholastic), and Esperanza Rising (Scholastic). She lives in Leucadia, California.
Author Biography: Mark Astrella lived by both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans while illustrating this book. He is the illustrator of The Desert Alphabet Book and The Butterfly Alphabet Book. He now lives in Hawaii.
Publishers Weekly
This rhyming picture book about the pleasures of a day at the beach gets off to a rocky start. "Hello, ocean,/ my old best friend./ I'm here,/ with the five of me, again!" read the opening lines, but only four figures appear on the page. It may take repeated readings for youngsters to understand that the "five of me" refers to the girl's five senses--despite the bold type for words like "hear" and "sounds" (though, curiously, in the first verse, "I see the ocean,/ gray, green, blue,..." the word "see" is not in bold). Ryan's (Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride; Esperanza Rising) descriptions of the seaside are strongest when she sticks to concrete examples of the child's experience: the look of "amber seaweed,/ speckled sand,/ bubbly waves that kiss the land" and the feel of "squishy,/ sandy,/ soggy ground,/ slippery seaweed that wraps around." Her metaphors, on the other hand, sometimes become abstract ("I hear the ocean,/ a lion's roar,/ crashing rumors/ toward the shore"). Astrella's (The Desert Alphabet Book) acrylics on airbrushed paper take on an almost photographic quality. His sun-washed shades vary in intensity from the subtly blended blues and greens of the surf to a range of beach-ball tones: the orange of a seagull's feet, the pinks and purples of a bathing suit and the fire-engine red of a picnic cooler. Ages 3-8. (Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.