It Could Be Worse

by Einat Tsarfati, Einat Tsarfati (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Following up her beach-based blast, Sandcastle, Einat Tsarfati treats us to a glass half empty/glass half full tale that’s as much a treat for the eyes as it is for the mind. As two shipwrecked sailors navigate the ocean, the only thing more concerning to Albertini is how nonchalant George is about their voyage. Perfect for read-alouds and a perfect reminder that, in most cases, it could be worse…

Could it get any worse? Two shipwrecked sailors have different views of an absurd series of dilemmas in a wry, visually lavish tale for pessimists and optimists alike.

As a pair of shipwrecked sailors float on what’s left of their ship, Albertini is none too happy. The rain, he observes, is unfair enough. Then the flying fish appear overhead—the ones with the sick stomachs. And the singing mermaids, leaving infernal earworms in their wake. There’s the ghost ship full of pirates and the ark teeming with ravenous beasts. But no matter how bad the situation seems, George, cheerfully playing his harmonica, reminds his friend it could always be worse. Ahhhh! But hang on . . . is that a giant whale with an overpowering case of tuna breath? Delightfully detailed illustrations add visual comedy to a meditation on tough times that shows that even the worst days can turn around—especially with friends.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536217919
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	06/16/2021
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	675,251
Product dimensions:	11.80(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Einat Tsarfati is an Israeli author and illustrator, most recently Sandcastle and The Neighbors. She graduated with honors from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. Einat Tsarfati lives in Israel.

Editorial Reviews

Two shipwrecked sailors hold different viewpoints about their situation.
—Kirkus Reviews

Pursued by ghost pirates and chased into the sea, these two adventurers finally find a way to coexist in this bubbly, bumbly, color-washed, giggle-inducing story about surviving disaster with your sanity intact.
—Foreword Reviews (starred review)

Two shipwrecked sailors confront preposterous woes with varying degrees of optimism in Einat Tsarfati's delightfully farcical picture book It Could Be Worse. . . . Intricate digital illustrations in candy-colored hues include impressively detailed nautical pastedowns and lend a cheerful air to the daytime travails, while velvety blues dominate the climactic nighttime scenes. . . . Optimists and alarmists both will relate to this entertaining adventure as George and Albertini navigate laughably bad situations before finding safe harbor.
—Shelf Awareness

From the Publisher

2021-05-19
Two shipwrecked sailors hold different viewpoints about their situation.

Out on the open ocean, Albertini (brown-skinned, with dark hair, wearing a knitted cap and blue sailor stripes) and George (white-skinned, with bright orange hair and a blue sweater) float on a fragment of their ill-fated ship. The placid, empty ocean shows no sign of other sailors nor other parts of the ship. It begins to rain, but just on them: a narrow, personalized storm. Albertini shouts, “This is so unfair!”—but: “It could be worse,” counters chin-up George. A chain of cartoonishly bad (and lackadaisically disparate) events unfolds: Flying fish drop diarrhea on them; mermaids wearing onesies sing a song that gets stuck in their heads; a sea anemone pulls them to the ocean’s floor; a whale swallows them down into its belly, where they find Rodin’s The Thinker, Pinocchio, and telephones from various bygone eras among other esoterica. Each event distresses poor Albertini while chipper George repeatedly murmurs that things could be worse. The refrain begs for an ending with a strong (and pattern-relevant) punch, swerve, or affirmation, but none comes. Instead, several implausible strokes of luck—overly casual luck that the text never acknowledges—reunite Albertini and George with their multiracial crew and the inexplicably restored (though not whole) components of the missing ship. Tsarfati’s wiry illustrations lean on concept more than aesthetic or visual engagement.

This could be worse…but it could be better. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews