Off to See the Sea

by Nikki Grimes, Elizabeth Zunon (Illustrator)

Overview

From Children's Literature Legacy Award-winning author Nikki Grimes and acclaimed illustrator Elizabeth Zunon comes an adventurous bath time story.

Night has fallen and Mom and Dad need to get their little one in the tub. To make it more fun, Mom brings a magical adventure out at sea to life, where the faucet is a waterfall, a rubber ducky is a sea creature, and the splashing water is a raging sea! In their ocean journey, Mom and Dad manage to get their little one clean just in time to dock for bedtime.

"Children will delight… This ebullient account of a common childhood experience bursts with love and universal appeal."—Booklist, STARRED review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781492638292
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	01/12/2021
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,121,960
Product dimensions:	11.20(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD530L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author Nikki Grimes is the recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, the 2017 Children's Literature Legacy Award, the 2016 Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, and the 2006 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, among many others. Ms. Grimes lives in Corona, California. Find her at nikkigrimes.com.

Elizabeth Zunon grew up in West Africa and now lives Albany, NY where she draws, paints, collages, sews, silkscreens, makes jewelry, and ponders the endless possibilities of chocolate. Her work is largely influenced by the people, places, and things from her childhood in the Ivory Coast as the product of two cultures. Visit her at lizzunon.com.

Editorial Reviews

11/09/2020

Bath time becomes an opportunity for adventure and make-believe in this book by collaborators Grimes and Zunon (Bedtime for Sweet Creatures). In imagery-rich free verse by Grimes, a mother addresses her child: “Up and up I lift you/ till your toes leave the tile.../ slip-sliding into a soft-scented sea.” Zunon renders the family of color naturalistically, with faces and bodies that appear three-dimensional. The figures move among cut-out forms of patterned paper that constitute the story’s make-believe elements—a waterfall (the faucet’s flow), crashing waves (which the child splashes up), undersea treasure (the tub plug), and more. A yellow rubber duck grows life-size: “Monsters straight ahead!” but there’s time for observing, too—the shining bath bubbles carry “copies of your smile.” The mother doesn’t fuss about the waves her child makes; instead, she grabs the opportunity to shampoo “silky,/ wet curls.” As the ocean adventure ends (“I sink my arm into the cooling waters of the raging sea”), the relationship between parent and child deepens through the imaginative possibilities offered by their everyday ritual. Ages 4–8. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"A joyous chronicle of the delight that a bath can bring—imaginative and charming. " — Kirkus Reviews

"Children will delight… This ebullient account of a common childhood experience bursts with love and universal appeal." — Booklist, STARRED REVIEW

From the Publisher

02/01/2021

PreS-Gr 2—Grimes and Zunon (Bedtime for Sweet Creatures) team up again, this time for a bathing adventure that fans will surely enjoy. Getting this particular child into the bathtub takes persuasion, imagination, and pretend, as Black parents coordinate efforts to get their reluctant child into the tub. What follows is a deep sea dive to depths unknown, some sneaky shampooing, and before anyone can realize it, the clean child ready for bed, tired after such a harrowing journey. Grimes keeps the overall story simple, using the senses and action to build each scene to realistically tell a story while also describing an imaginative world to entice any bather. Zunon saturates each page with colorful mixed media, that includes collage, acrylic paint, and gel pen. VERDICT The illustrations along with the swirl of words on each page add to the story's vibrancy and texture; there's always room in the collection for this kind of collaboration.—Hilary Tufo, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., Reynoldsburg, OH

School Library Journal

2020-09-29
The family from Bedtime for Sweet Creatures (2020) is back for bathtime.

The previous book’s precocious toddler laughingly hides from Mom (Dad’s reading in the living room) when it’s clear bathtime looms. The child is persuaded to the tub with the promise that “Bath time is full of magic!” Changes in the color and capitalization of the type emphasize certain elements of the story (without any clear pattern) as Mom, who narrates, uses the power of imagination to make bathtime an adventure. The water coming out of the faucet is a “WATERFALL”; “MONSTERS” (in yellow) appear on the high seas in the form of a single rubber ducky, which elicits a “squeal” (also in yellow) from the child; mother and child “CRASH [in red] against the waves” aboard a pair of toy tugboats. Zunon’s art is lovely as ever, and her use of colors heightens engagement. It’s unfortunate that, as in the prior book, readers see the mother as the more active parent. If this family returns for a third outing, here’s hoping for more balanced parental responsibilities. Regardless of this gender-normative misstep, this companion to Bedtime for Sweet Creatures is adorable. All characters are Black.

A joyous chronicle of the delight that a bath can bring—imaginative and charming. (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews