One Seal - Hardcover

A boy's wayward kite occasions, unfortunately, an equally wayward tale. As the child's red kite heads out to sea, he runs after it and encounters a seal on the beach. To the rescue comes a hodgepodge of creatures, including a monkey, polar bear and tiger: "One.../ ...by one.../ ...they came." The group begins a pyramid of sorts, all balanced on the seal's nose. The stalwart seal never buckles under the strain of, ultimately, more than 20 animals, among them a whale, elephant and Tyrannosaurus rex. In the climactic spread, the crab at the top of the orderly animal mountain nabs the kite string; not until photos are taken and the crowd disperses, however, does the seal return the kite to the boy. Sometimes readers get a glimpse of the next animal to join the crowd, most times they do notAand readers are left to wonder what is supposed to hatch from a giant egg that begins to crack in the series of pictures. As in Stadler's earlier picture books (Hooray for Snail!; Three Cheers for Hippo!), the creatures here are amiable and companionable, and a minimal use of words for the majority of the book would seem to make this a good selection for those who can't yet read on their own. In one pivotal spread, though, the storytelling doesn't depend on the pictures, but rather relies purely on text ("Photographs were taken. Names, addresses, and phone numbers were exchanged. All agreed that they must get together soon and do it again")Aand children may need an adult to explain the humor. Ages 4-7. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

PreSchool-K As One Seal begins, a child runs through coastal dunes flying a kite. Alas! The wind snatches it away, although it hangs above the beach well within sight. The eponymous one seal magically appears on the beach, followed, one by one, by several other animals a whimsical who's who of recognizable mammals, reptiles, and creatures of the sea and they make themselves into a sculpture tall enough for the crab at the very top to reach the kite string and retrieve it for the child. Stadler brings the text to a halt in the pages where the animals concentrate on their goal. Trouble is, the kite is literally out of the picture as they gather and work together, so their goal is unclear. The return of the kite to the child is so removed from its retrieval from the sky that the story doesn't make sense. And that's too bad, because the watercolor illustrations of the beach create a lovely sense of an expanse of sand topped by an expanse of sky, the perfect stage for animal acrobatics. Pat Leach, Lincoln City Libraries, NE
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.