March 26, 2018
In her first picture book, Walrath (Like Water on Stone) writes a free-verse poem that celebrates the way that nouns can become verbs. “I am a bird. I fly.” Readers see a father and a child at the beach. Holding a blanket like wings, the child “flies,” running along the waterline, gazing up at the seagulls. The next page shows that fly can be used in another way, too: “I’m a fly. I land.” Now the child “lands,” setting the family’s blanket underneath their beach umbrella. Kim (La La La: A Story of Hope) uses dynamic swashes of paint for shadows, waves, and clouds. Father and child play on the beach until dusk, then watch the sunset, their bodies aglow in the reds and oranges of the sun. Not all the words of Walrath’s poems are homonyms (“I’m a tug./ I tow./ My toes get tickled by kelp”), and now and then there’s a line that’s strained (“I’m the sea./
I crest./ I’m a crest./ I warn”), but this book is a prompt that can start children off on a search for other words that work in the same way. Ages 4–8.
April 1, 2018
A father and child visit the ocean, and the child imagines many transformations.The child holds the beach blanket flapping out, capelike, behind: "I am a bird. I fly." The subsequent spread begins with the ending of the previous one: "I'm a fly. I land." The child spreads the blanket out. Some of the metaphors require a little bit of concentration to parse. "I'm a line. I tug. / I'm a tug. I tow" shows father and child on the beach waving to a tugboat at work, hauling a large ship by a line. Some may resist parsing. "I am kelp. I branch" simply portrays the child from the waist down amid some kelp and cartoon crabs. But Kim certainly manages to convey both the delight the pair finds in each other's company and the child's exuberance. The father joyfully joins the play, even consenting to being buried in the sand. The ending breaks the pattern but cements the relationship: "I am a bird. I glide / into arms open wide. // I'm the hands that hold / and the eyes that shine... // when it's you / and it's me / and the sea." Both are depicted with dark hair and East Asian features.Imaginative children could take this idea far; so could teachers covering homonyms and metaphors. (Picture book. 4-8)
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May 1, 2018
PreS-Gr 1-Spending a day at the beach, a boy and his father become one with nature. Succinct, first-person lyrical text introduces a metaphoric chain of associations: "I am a bird. I fly. I'm a fly. I land. I am land. I stretch to the sea." Kim's warm-hued watercolor illustrations show the child running free on the shore, holding a checked picnic blanket that spreads out behind him like wings. In the foreground, seagulls soar above the water. The language is playful, but some of the verb-to-noun transitions are a bit difficult to understand, such as: "I'm the sea. I crest. I'm a crest. I warn. I'm a worn old shoe in the sand" and "My toes get tickled by kelp. I am kelp. I branch. I'm a branch. I snap." The slice-of-life adventure continues as father and son play in the sand, wave to a tugboat, and watch the sunset. VERDICT A sweet and immersive appreciation of nature and family time together. Perfect for one-on-one and small group sharing.-Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ont.
Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 1, 2019
This joyful book celebrates a child and caregiver's loving relationship through a day spent at the seashore. With creative use of language, especially homonyms, the poetic text flows from scene to scene: "I am sand. I stick. / I'm a stick. I float. / I'm a float on a fisherman's line." Sunny watercolor and digital illustrations set the mood and clarify the text's meaning.
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