We'll All Go Sailing

Nominee, Governor General's Literary Awards Children's Literature - Illustration, 2001

Richard Thompson and Maggee Spicer join forces with Kim La Fave in this colourful tour of the seas. The young narrator and his friends, Maggee and Jesse, travel to a myriad of places to look at sea life that is every colour of the rainbow. Children will delight in the pink octopus, the blue manatee, and the orange barracuda, to name but a few.

Richard Thompson and Maggee Spicer have created a rhythmic poem (in the same vein as their ealier collaboration, ) that will encourage the very youngest of new readers. Together with Kim La Fave's bold and playful illustrations, this delightful poem will . . .

make a fine book

To show what we'll see,

When we all go sailing

On the rainbow seas.

Children's Literature

Three friends go sailing on the rainbow seas in a rollicking, rhyming book from this husband and wife team. The book is filled with adjectives and colors, and children will delight in the story's rhythm, repetitive phrases and the creatures the three see in the sea. In each of the different colored seas the trio wonder what they will spy. A foldout flap continues the rhyme, naming two sea creatures and telling what color they are, while readers can find them in the large illustration. From a green jellyfish and a hot pink squid to a red narwhal and an orange barracuda, your child will come face to face with a variety of unique sea life. LaFave's illustrations are wonderfully quirky and colorful, and are unique in that they look like crayon drawings with paint overlays. Best of all, the story itself suggests an activity to do when you come home from adventuring¾make a book to remember your travels. This is a tale that is sure to be enjoyed by children who are learning their colors and who love to be actively involved in "uncovering" the story. 2001, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, $16.95. Ages 3 to 7. Reviewer: Elizabeth Pabrinkis