The Pelican Can!

by Toni Yuly

Overview

"A triumphant work."—Publishers Weekly, Best Picture Book citation  

★ “A sure bet for the younger set.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

With exuberant text and striking art, this picture book that celebrates what a pelican can do will have young readers chanting joyfully along!

Who can amaze with their remarkable ways? 
The pelican can! 
The pelican can!
 
When a young pelican wakes up hungry, pelican parents know just what to do! Take a trip to the seaside and cheer for a marvelous bird who can fly, soar, dive, and more! Luminous graphic art paired with infectious rhythmic text makes for a winning invitation to join in a soaring journey to observe and celebrate the way that pelicans feed their young.

The pelican does what a pelican can do.
Now, how about you?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316497817
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	05/14/2024
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Toni Yuly is the author of many books for children, including Early Bird, which won the ALA Notable and Texas 2x2, and Thank You, Bees, which won the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award. She studied painting at the University of Washington, where she worked with the great American painter Jacob Lawrence, and worked for many years as a librarian in the King County Library System. She lives in Bremerton, Washington, where she often drives to the shore to watch the brown pelicans. 

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/25/2024

Rhyming questions are answered with the triumphant titular cry in a work that displays the pelican’s power and balletic grace. “Who can see it’s time to eat?” Yuly begins, as two pelican adults and a hungry nestling are seen in silhouette against long, torn-paper strips of tangerine and lavender. A page turn later—“The pelican can! The pelican can!”—an ink-stroked adults swoops from the nest toward the water. The bird pulls itself across the next spread (“Who can soar down close to the shore?”), peers from above (“Who can spy small fish with their eye?”), and plunges into the water, its wings tucked close. Big red letters mark the moment of impact: “SPLASH!” As the sun sets, new spreads show the return of the adult, its pouch full, and the young pelican’s now relaxed body, ready to sleep. Via this closely observed day-in-the-life tale, the pelican’s natural behavior supplies all the visual drama the story needs. Ages 4–8. (May)

Publishers Weekly

* “Repetitive, rhyming, call-and-response–style text makes this one a sure bet for the younger set…torn-paper, ink, and digital-media artwork is the standout here….Yuly imbues her subject with verve and energy; readers will be just as eager to see the results of the pelican’s flight as the birds waiting back home in the nest.”
 
 —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* “Displays the pelican’s power and balletic grace…the pelican’s natural behavior supplies all the visual drama the story needs.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Yuly delivers plenty of page-turning visual drama…Artfully placed text mimics the pelicans’ path as they fly, dive, “SPLASH!,” and scoop, enhancing the book’s visual delight and the appeal of decoding words and images as readers follow the pelicans from page to page."
 —Horn Book

“The sunnily optimistic picture book The Pelican Can! uses bold graphics to capture the vibrant world of a can-do bird.”—Parade Magazine, “The 25 Best New Book Releases This Week”

From the Publisher

06/21/2024

PreS-Gr 1—A baby pelican wakes in its nest, demanding to be fed, and so one of two adult pelicans sets off in search of a meal. Each part of its journey unfolds through rhythmic questions and a repeated refrain: "Who can see it's time to eat?/ The pelican can! The pelican can!/ Who can soar down close to the shore?/ The pelican can! The pelican can!" Just before the pelican returns to the nest, the story culminates with a recap of its hunt for food: "A pelican does what a pelican can/ soar / fly / spy / dive / SPLASH! / scoop." The pelicans, rendered in black against a palette of cool blues, warm oranges, and stark whites, stand out in pronounced silhouettes or strong black outline. The illustrations are made using torn paper, ink, and digital media; the thoughtful composition of each spread varies, with the sparse text placed to complement the art by highlighting the bird's actions. VERDICT The rhyming wordplay and refrain make this simple, exhilarating story a solid choice for reading aloud.—Lauren Strohecker

School Library Journal

★ 2024-03-23
What can pelicans do?

As this lively picture book shows, this large-billed bird with an oversized pouch can do quite a lot, especially when there’s a hungry mouth to feed back at home. As our protagonist soars through the air, it pays careful attention to marine life swimming below, diving from the sky to “scoop a delicious fish soup.” Naturally, some of this catch ends up being shared with its mate and its chick upon its return to the nest. Repetitive, rhyming, call-and-response-style text makes this one a sure bet for the younger set. “Who can fly up in the sky?” “Who can spy small fish with their eye?” “Who can dive down so fast?” Each time, the answer is an enthusiastic “The pelican can! The pelican can!” Though some might have wished for backmatter with more information about pelicans, it’s a small point. Yuly’s torn-paper, ink, and digital-media artwork is the standout here. Each page is saturated with blues, pinks, or purples. On some pages, the pelican is silhouetted in black, while on others, it’s rendered with just a few strokes of black ink. Yuly imbues her subject with verve and energy; readers will be just as eager to see the results of the pelican’s flight as the birds waiting back home in the nest.

Will prompt well-deserved appreciation for this unique bird. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews