Shine!

by Patrick McDonnell, Naoko Stoop (Artist)

Overview

A gentle, mindful picture book about learning to appreciate the wonders in your world and within yourself, from New York Times bestselling author and MUTTS comic creator Patrick McDonnell and award-winning artist Naoko Stoop.

Hoshi the sea star looks up in the sky and sees the stars shining. She wishes that she too could be in the sky amongst the brilliant stars--and as she imagines how much better it would be up in the air, she fails to appreciate the beautiful world that surrounds her underwater. It takes Hoshi's friends, old and new, to help her realize that her shine comes from within. With gorgeous illustrations depicting colorful underwater life, Shine! teaches about the wonders that can be found inside ourselves.

Naoko Stoop is the creator of Red Knit Cap Girl, a New York Times Best Illustrated book. Her gorgeous use of plywood as the canvas for her work offers the perfect texture and pattern to evoke waves and sea currents in the underwater scenes.

Don't miss these other picture books by Patrick McDonnell:
Me…Jane
The Gift of Nothing
The Gift of Everything
Art
Hug Time
Tek
The Little Red Cat Who Ran Away and Learned His ABC's (the Hard Way)
A Perfectly Messed-Up Story
The Monsters’ Monster

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316433945
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	04/25/2017
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	33 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Patrick McDonnell’s beloved and award-winning comic strip, MUTTS, has appeared in over 700 newspapers across 20 countries for 30 years. Charles Schulz called it “One of the best comics strips of all time.” Patrick is the author of several New York Times bestselling picture books, including The Gift of Nothing, and the Caldecott Honor winning Me...Jane. Both have been adapted as musicals for the Kennedy Center stage. Other children’s books include Hug Time, A Perfectly Messed-Up Story, The Monsters’ Monster, and Thank You and Goodnight. Patrick was a member of the Board of Directors of The Humane Society of the United States for 18 years and currently serves on the boards of The Charles M. Schulz Museum and D&R Greenway Land Trust. He lives in New Jersey.

Editorial Reviews

"A lovely...title to share."—School Library Journal

"Stoop’s mixed-media artwork adds richness and depth." —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2017-01-17
A sea creature yearns to live in the sky.Hoshi is a red starfish with little black eyes and white circles on her cheeks. Every night on the beach, she gazes longingly upward, believing that only as a celestial star can she "shine." As the sun rises and the tide pulls her back into the water, the text is amusingly explicit about what Hoshi's environment isn't actually missing: " ‘I should be floating among the colorful planets,' Hoshi [thinks], as she float[s] among the colorful coral"; " ‘Up there, there are exciting and endless possibilities,' she explain[s] to the exciting, endless schools of minnows." McDonnell's two-part message—that Hoshi's environment has everything she longs for, and that she can "shine" and be happy simply by deciding to, as an anglerfish explains—is hardly original, and Hoshi's self-pity ("poor little me…a star stuck in the sea") feels overdone at her expense. However, the artwork—acrylic, pencil, pastel, and ink on plywood—has some lovely aspects. The stars in the sky seem truly luminescent; the "exciting, endless" school of yellow minnows glides alluringly through green water; and, most inventively, Stoop uses the natural wood grain of her plywood base as beach, undersea sand patterns, and ocean currents. There's no place like home, even underwater, though the eventual happiness here seems more dictated than organic. (Picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews