PICTURE BOOK - Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall

Illustrated by the author

2018 Little Brown & Co.

HC & price40 pgs.- the last one folds out

Goodreads rating:  4.44 - 648 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers: front:  photos and writing on beige; Back:  "About Lighthouses"

1^st line/s:
"On the highest of a tiny island
at the edge of the world stands a lighthouse.
It is built to last forever.
Sending its light out to sea,
guiding the ships on their way."

My comments:  I enjoyed reading and admiring this book three times before I closed it.  It's a lovely story about a keeper, and then his family, that inhabited a lighthouse through the seasons for a number of years.  And this lighthouse was on a rock, with no yard or walkway, totally surrounded by the sea!  Sigh.  A lovely book.

Goodreads:  A new picture book that will transport readers to the seaside.
Watch the days and seasons pass as the wind blows, the fog rolls in, and icebergs drift by. Outside, there is water all around. Inside, the daily life of a lighthouse keeper and his family unfolds as the keeper boils water for tea, lights the lamp's wick, and writes every detail in his logbook.

PICTURE BOOK - Snail Mail: With Pull-Out Postcards by Sharon King-Chai

Illustrated by the author

2016, Hodder Children's Books (UK)

32 pgs. with 6 x 8 envelopes containing heavy-stock postcards

Goodreads rating: 5.0 - 2 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers: A map of the world with the "snail trail."

1^st line/s:  "Hi there!  I'm Sam, the Seashell Snail.  I live by the seashore."

My comments:  

I vacillated between a 4 and a 5 for this one, mainly because my adult mind questioned how snails could travel the world, and so quickly. But the premise of the book. - similar to the idea of the Jolly Postman books and Vera Williams' Stringbean's Trip to the Shining Sea - and the information presented are top-notch. So are the fun and fanciful Snail family and friends. Actually, the whole package is just plain FUN! It would fit perfectly into any sort of epistolary unit that a teacher may do in I vacillated between a 4 and a 5 for this one, mainly because my adult mind questioned how snails could travel the world, and so quickly. But the premise of the book. - similar to the idea of the Jolly Postman books and Vera Williams' Stringbean's Trip to the Shining Sea - and the information presented are top-notch. So are the fun and fanciful Snail family and friends. Actually, the whole package is just plain FUN! It would fit perfectly into any sort of epistolary unit that a teacher may do in school, too. Two thumbs up.

Goodreads:   Sam the Seashell Snail is too young to go surfing around the world with his brother, Tiger. Not wanting Sam to miss out on the adventure, Tiger sends him Snail Mail from Brazil, America, India, Japan and France. Tiger's last Snail Mail has a very special birthday surprise!
          With pull-out postcards to pore over, this fun and charming picture book will captivate even the most tech-savvy of children.
          A Jolly Postman for this generation.

Captain Cat - Inga Moore

Illustrated by the author

2013, Candlewick Press

HC $15.99

48 pages

Goodreads rating: 3.64

My rating: 4

Endpapers: All blue - ocean with hints of the island along the edge

Title Page: simple, Title & author with 1.5 x 8-inch (like a sideways bookmark) of the Carlotta roughing it out on the ocean

Illustrations: she says mixed media, they're water colory with tiny faint hatchmarks.  Love 'em.

1^st paragraph/page:  Captain Cat loved cats.  There were more cats on board his ship, the Carlotta, than there were sailors in his crew - which was why his sailors called him Captain Cat.

My comments: This is a delightful picture book...cute story and wonderful illustrations. I'm guessing that some people might be put off by the cats killing all the rats, but I sure have no problem with that. Premise of the story is that if you have no greed and just a love of something...whether it be cats, or people, or blue skies and warm waters...don't be influenced by anything else. What is happiness?

Note:  Captain Cat looks an awful lot like Santa Claus......

Goodreads says: Captain Cat loves cats. In fact, he has more cats on his ship than he has sailors. On one voyage, he discovers a remote and lonely island where the little-girl Queen has never even seen a cat. When Captain Cat’s furry companions trounce the rats infesting the island, the Queen begs Captain Cat to trade her the cats for untold treasure. Does he? Could he? What happens next? Never fear, fellow travelers! The purr-fect solution is on the horizon — and is sure to satisfy both pet-lovers and adventurers

53. The Day Before - Lisa Schroeder

2011, Simon Pulse
Goodreads rating: 4.00
cag: 4
for: YA
309 pages
paper $9,99

Setting:  Contemporary Oregon coast
First line/s:  Some mornings,/it's hard to get/out of bed.

Written in verse, the story pulls you right in and along. Easy-to-read in one two-hour sitting, leaves a lot to think about. Two young people head to the beach for one last day before some pretty major events will change their lives forever. Very likable teens, Cade and Amber.  They meet when their eyes meet at the jellyfish tank at the aquarium.

Beautiful writing:

I like

the memories
because they remind me
I haven't always been
this girl,
constantly
mad or scared
or confused.

I don't like

the memories
because the tears
come easily,
and once again I break
my promise 
to myself for this day.

It's a constant battle.

The Bravest Woman in America – Marissa Moss

Illustrated by Andrea U’Ren

Tricycle Press, 2011

32 pages

Rating:  4

Endpapers:  azure

Title page:  Oval of Ida rowing

Illustrations:  cover the entire page – no white – they’re bright, detailed, wonderful.

Alliteration:  “Ida loved the sea.  She loved it when it was calm and coppery in the sunlight.”

Similes:  “She loved it when it was wild with froth like a herd of stampeding horses.”

Incredible description:  “She loved the crash of the waves, the screech of gulls wheeling overhead, the bite of salt in her nose as she breathed in the ocean air.”

Snazzy verbs:  perched, lurched, shinnied, churned

Metaphor:  “bubble of trimph

This picture book is based on the story of Ida Lewis (1842-1911), the Newport, Rhode Island lighthouse keeper who rescued over 18 people during her tenure.

Dory Story - Jerry Pallotta

Illustrated by David Biedrzycki
Charlesbridge, 2000
$16.99
32 pages
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: Rusty red

Brendan and I went to the Acadia National Park visitor center yesterday, looked at the huge relief map, watched the movie, and decided to participate in some junior ranger activities this week. We were drawn to this big, colorful book and bought it, stamped it with the National Park passport stamp, and signed the inside cover. So this will be a very special book. We've already read it three times.

Not only does this relate the ocean adventures of a curious boy, it teaches about the food chain....from plankton to shrimp to eels to mackerel to bluefish to killer whales. We see seals, gulls, lots and lots of ocean, and see how imagination and curiousity can create a whale of a tale.

The illustrations and layout of the book are lovely - the picture covers most of the two-page spread -- oh those blues! -- and the font, a large blue type, is on a white vertical strip down the side.

Informative and fun, what more could one want?

Ocean's Child - Christine Ford & Trish Holland

Illustrated by David Diaz
Golden Books/Random House
2009
$15.99
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: Aqua/lavender batik

This gentle bedtime, good-night story is swathed in batik. The backgrounds (from edge of the page to edge of the page) are batiked. Some of the animals are batiked. Batik is a special kind of fabric created with wax resist. It's my favorite fabric - it's beautiful.

Each two-page spread ends with a similar soft chant. For example:

Safe and snug in his leafy bed,
Baby otter is rocked to sleep.
To ocean's child we say good night.
Good night, little otter, good night.

In this way we also say good night to walrus, dolphin, whale, polar bear, puffin, sea lion, orca, albatross, seal....baby and child.

Mmmmmm. A lovely bedtime book.