Marine Life - General & Miscellaneous, Poetry - General & Miscellaneous, Fiction - General & Miscellaneous, Poetry - General & Miscellaneous, Poetry - Animals

Octopus, Oyster, Hermit Crab, Snail

Name: Octopus, Oyster, Hermit Crab, Snail
Author: Sara Anderson
ISBN: 9781593540791

by Anderson, Sara

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Overview

Start at the tips of the foamy waves, where the sun glints off the water, and go down to the depths of the sea, where the eel's phosphorescence glows in the dark with otherworldly intensity. Below the waves, there are to be seen, among a myriad of living creatures, the octopus, the snail, and the angelfish. Deeper still are the whales, the lobsters, and the sticklebacks. Resting on the floor are barnacles, pompanos, and eels. Returning to the surface, there are still more magnificently depicted examples of sea lifeuntil the sunny beach and golden sand beckon.

A journey through the ocean is imaginatively plumbed in words and pictures. Informative, clear, and graphically lovely, readers of all ages who dive into this book will never look at the sea in quite the same way.

About the Author, Sara Anderson

Sara Anderson is a talented designer and illustrator of children's books. She has also designed fabric, ceramics, and furniture for clients as diverse as MoMA and Crate and Barrel. The illustrator of Hey Diddle Diddle and Other Nursery Rhyme Favorites , Pu

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Editorials

School Library Journal

Gr 1-3-This poem brings popular marine creatures to life: "Jellyfish Lobster Stickleback Seal/Barnacle Blowfish Pompano...Eel/Up from the depths/comes a bubble of air./What can you see?/Is anyone there?" The cut-paper collage illustrations draw readers into the rhythm of the sea, from the waves depicted in shades of blue and lavender on the endpapers to the whitecaps ("Beach flutter bubbles") brought by the tide at the end. However, some of the creatures aren't identified, and children might not be familiar with many of them-except for the mottled head of a whale, which gets its own spread, or the gray dolphins leaping from a purple sea.-Polly L. Kotarba, Gordon Elementary School Library, Bellaire, TX Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Anderson takes readers on an exhilarating ride from reef to deep sea to ebbing wave on the beach, portraying an intricate dance of sea life in stunning paper collages (or are they digital paintings?) and sinuous verse-"Slippery ripples / slide under the skate. / Schools of fish flurry, / a snail stops to wait." Every turn of the page brings a dramatic change, opening with a fiery orange octopus writhing by and brightly colored creatures turning to face the viewer, followed by an immense whale nosing past and then a seal beginning a long dive into the darkness. With rich colors and subtle interplays of sharp angles and long curves, the art has a visual impact reminiscent of Lois Ehlert's Fish Eyes (1990), well supported by the brief, strongly rhythmic poem. Don't hesitate to dive into this one. (Picture book/poetry. 6-8)