In the Sea

by David Elliott, Holly Meade (Illustrator)

Overview

"A magnificent merger of words and images." — Booklist (starred review)

A New York Times best-selling author and a Caldecott Honor–winning illustrator explore life in the ocean. In striking woodcut illustrations, diverse creatures glide through blue and green waters, while succinct, witty poetry examines their behavior and interactions. In this companion volume to On the Farm and In the Wild, David Elliott and Holly Meade explore the depths of the ocean in a collection of poems sure to thrill budding oceanographers and landlubbers alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763670504
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	03/25/2014
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.50(w) x 10.60(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

David Elliott is the author of many books for young readers, including On the Farm and In the Wild, the companion books to In the Sea. He is also the author of the New York Times best-selling picture book And Here's To You!, illustrated by Randy Cecil. David Elliott lives in New Hampshire.

Holly Meade (1956-2013) wrote and illustrated IF I NEVER FOREVER ENDEAVOR. She earned a Caldecott Honor for her illustrations in HUSH! A THAI LULLABY by Minfong Ho. She also illustrated AND THEN COMES HALLOWEEN by Tom Brenner; ON THE FARM, IN THE WILD, and IN THE SEA by David Elliott; and many others.

Editorial Reviews

Elliott and Meade's newest collaboration is a playful exploration of life in the sea... The poems are tailor-made for reading aloud, with vocabulary sophisticated enough to challenge emerging readers while also engaging them inthe fun of wordplay... A magnificent merger of words and images. It will not only appeal to poetry fans, but to all those children who marvel over the mysteries of the deep.
—Booklist (starred review)

Meade’s trademark woodblock prints and watercolors are intricate, action-filled, and artfully designed, while Elliott’s brief poems are a linguistic treat... An eye-catching introduction to the beauty of the creatures that live “in the briny deep.”
—Publishers Weekly

This mix of clever poems, handsome art and well-chosen typography will function equally well for bedtime sharing and early-learning settings.
—Kirkus Reviews

Poetry and art combine to create memorable portraits, for very young readers, of twenty different ocean creatures... Reel this one in; it's a keeper.
—The Horn Book

Accompanying the verse on each spread are bold woodblock and watercolor illustrations that successfully capture the atmosphere and movement of the ocean. From the maw of the moray eel to the detail in the coral, the art perfectly matches the tone of the poetry.
—School Library Journal

Sea lovers will find this picture book delightful. Readers not only learn of underwater animals, they will be captivated by the rhymes throughout the book.
—Library Media Connection

Thanks to this collection of 17 poems, we stop to consider the awe-inspiring life that goes on in our planet's salty depths. A stellar pairing of poems and artwork that celebrates the ocean's depths, teeming with life.
—Shelf Awareness

Elliott's short poems surprise and delight with their unique descriptions... an excellent introduction to the underwater world.
—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Moving from poems about the seasons to poems inspired by the ocean, this collection of often funny verses about animals under the sea is short enough to be read at bedtime, but rich enough to inspire all sorts of conversations about the creatures we rarely see.
—Huffington Post Parents

Meade’s stunning woodcuts swim off the page and invite the young reader to enter the magical world of the ocean.
—BookPage

The rich rhymes...are inviting and challenging while the drama of the woodcuts brings a gasp at every page turn.
—BookPage

From the Publisher

In this aquatic companion to In the Wild and On the Farm, Meade’s trademark woodblock prints and watercolors are intricate, action-filled, and artfully designed, while Elliott’s brief poems are a linguistic treat, filled with dramatic metaphors that also convey information about the species described. The octopus is an “eight-armed apparition” that can vanish “in a cloud of ink./ No ghost, but a magician,” and a shark sports a “brutal grin” that reveals “the terror/ of the dark within.” While Meade’s color schemes are not always realistic, they are artistically appealing and, like the jacket artwork, sometimes stunning. An eye-catching introduction to the beauty of the creatures that live “in the briny deep.” Ages 3–5. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 1–4—In this collection, readers are treated to short, descriptive, yet elegant poems about the different life forms that are found in the sea. Starting with the sea horse and ending with the blue whale, each poem is but a glimpse of the creature it describes. A menacing tone is found in "The Shark": "The fin,/the skin,/the brutal grin…/The terror/of the dark within," and a playful tone emerges in "The Clown Fish": "Is not an enemy/of anemone;/in fact, it is anemone's maid,/for which anemone/stings its enemies./And that's how friends are made." Accompanying the verse on each spread are bold woodblock and watercolor illustrations that successfully capture the atmosphere and movement of the ocean. From the maw of the moray eel to the detail in the coral, the art perfectly matches the tone of the poetry. This work could easily be shared in its entirety as a read-aloud, and can be paired with the author's In the Wild (2010) and On the Farm (2008, both Candlewick) as well as Joyce Sidman's Swirl by Swirl (Houghton Harcourt, 2011).—Stacy Dillon, LREI, New York City

School Library Journal

This third pairing of Elliott's reductive poems and Meade's bold woodcut-and-watercolor illustrations dives deep to explore sea creatures, from tiny shrimp to the mighty blue whale. Elliott's poems are short and pithy, often combining elegant metaphor and child-friendly diction. "Five fingers, / like a hand, / the starfish shines / in a sky of sand." He doesn't shy from big words that expand children's imaginations and vocabularies: An octopus is "an eight-armed apparition." Humorous touches pleasantly conjure Douglas Florian's poetry. The puffer fish is "A trickster. / A clown. / A magician. / A buffoon. / One minute / she's a fish; / the next, / she's a balloon." Meade's pictures combine appropriately watery washes with black-inked woodcuts. She conjures the "before" and "after" capabilities of said puffer fish, and her Moray eel undulates fearsomely. Not every spread is completely successful. "The Clown Fish" riffs on inter-species symbiosis, but Elliott stumbles with the possessive phrase "its enemies"--inviting confusion as to whether anemone stings its own enemies, or the clown fish's. Meade's shark, possibly a great white, prominently sports stylized throat grooves that more resemble several species of whale. This mix of clever poems, handsome art and well-chosen typography, despite a few minor flaws, will function equally well for bedtime sharing and early-learning settings. (Picture book/poetry. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews