Overview
Take a plunge into the strange, surprising depths of this world inside the sea. In twenty-one wet and witty poems, Kurt Cyrus follows a lone sardine in search of its lost school within the dark halls of a great coral reef.
From a devious stonefish and a slippery sea snake to a blowfish with attitude and a line of goose-stepping lobsters, here is a realm awash with the weird and the wondrous, the comical and the spooky. No matter how long your stay, this is one hotel you won't want to leave!
Includes a visual "key" that leads readers to specific fish within the illustrations.
Twenty-one poems tell the story of a lone sardine separated from his school within a huge coral reef and the creatures he meets as he searches for the way back.
Synopsis
A poetic and humorous voyage to the bottom of the sea
School Library Journal
Gr 3-5-Untitled verses describe a colorful array of ocean creatures, both benign and dangerous, observed by a lone sardine searching for the swirling band of companions that he lost when the school spun out of the range of an invading marlin. "Where did everyone go?/One sardine. Apart. Alone./Welcome to the Mystery Zone." The handsome, busy views convey mystery with clever placement of creatures-some unnamed, some partially hidden, some more realistic than others. Though the sardine is mostly a passing observer, his continuing presence lends a bit of story line to the energetic scenes of underwater life. Moments of fear and danger thread throughout. "Life in the sea offers little that's free;/There's always a devil to pay." There's plenty to see and ponder though some oblique references and the sometimes mocking tone will elude many children. A thumbnail picture-glossary names some 28 species of marine life but provides no explanations or added information. Overall, this is a cheerful tour for browsers that also offers possibilities for shared reading.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.