March 1, 2024
The kids who live at a beachy vacation town make their own fun. Summer has begun at Seashell Key, and the local children are ready. Heuer divides the book into four stories, each an "act" made up of a few short chapters. First up is Mateo, who's inspired by his father's Sky and Sea Shop to start his own business making animal kites. In Act II, sisters Sophia and Sasha have a beach picnic. The girls' wildly different personalities come through: Sasha's an organized, grounded, and studious artist, while the free-spirited Sophia is imaginative and mischievous. The third and funniest story involves the trio of siblings who live in the lighthouse and decide to lure in tourists for a delightfully spurious tour of their home. The final act brings all the kids together. Sasha draws them all, and they enjoy Mateo's kites before having a fruity dessert. The island setting almost feels like a character itself, and the mild conflicts make the book ideal for sensitive beginning readers. Short sentences and paragraphs are broken up by engaging illustrations, resulting in an unintimidating chapter book for reluctant or struggling readers. In the illustrations, Mateo is dark-skinned, Sasha and Sophia present Black, and the lighthouse trio present white. Final art not seen. Appealingly light and gentle, with a sprinkle of good-natured mischief. (Chapter book. 5-8)
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April 1, 2024
Grades K-3 On the first day of summer, the children who live in a charming seaside-resort town find enjoyable adventures close to home. This breezy and sweet beginning-chapter-book series opener is organized into four acts, introducing the appealing people and places of Seashell Key. Mateo, motivated by his father's Sky and Sea Shop, launches a high-flying animal kite business and gets a rave review from his first kid customer. Heading to the beach for a picnic, sisters Sasha and Sophia grab some food from their mother's restaurant but end up making their own special "SANDwich." Eli, Ezra, and Elana invite tourists into their lighthouse for a tall tale-embellished guided tour. All the characters join together in the concluding act for more fun in the sun. The short, zippy sentences are full of action, pleasing repetition, and personality: "Sophia laughs. Pixie barks. Xena chirps. The sun sets. A salty breeze blows. Whirr, whirr! Look up!" Sunny and warm atmospheric cartoon illustrations capture the slice-of-life summer scenes. Emergent readers will eagerly return to Seashell Key.
COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
August 30, 2024
Gr 1-3-The first day of summer's "sparkly sand and salty breezes" are the setting for this inaugural volume of a charming early chapter book series introducing the tropical adventures of a diverse group of youngsters and their families living in Seashell Key. Inventive Mateo emulates his dad by opening his own Sky and Sea shack where he makes kites in unexpected shapes. His deliberative methods are described in short sentences with repetitive components that, coupled with the line breaks, add a poetic tenor present throughout the vignettes. Creative sisters Sasha and Sophia offer readers an opportunity to appreciate both sides of the brain as they go on a beach picnic. Finally, well-read Eli, Ezra, Elana, and their pets host ad hoc and chaotic tours of their lighthouse home. The last chapter brings them all together. Heuer has designed the book in four "acts," one to highlight each set of characters, and those acts are broken into three chapters each, assuring manageable narrative flow that includes simple, decodable words and introduces longer, repeated vocabulary. Bontigao's lovely, loose portrayals of the characters and their beloved seaside home highlight most pages and provide some support for inferential narrative information. VERDICT Purposefully drawn characters in a fun setting offer readers a new option in a crowded field. For collections with a robust early readers section.-Lisa Lehmuller
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