Ballyhoo Bay

December 1, 2008
Mira Bella heads to the beach each Saturday to teach art to both humans and sea creatures, who use wings, fins, claws, tentacles and hands to equally enthusiastic effect. The Special Event in June is the Ballyhoo Art Fair and Race where EVERYONE wins. In May, however, barbed wire and signs go up, announcing a beach development that specifically excludes children and wildlife. Mira Bella hatches a plan: Brandishing posters, creatures, children and grannies flummox the builders at the town council meeting, presenting Plan B, which passes unanimously. The environment will remain available to all, and art is respected with a rousing Fair. Sierra 's Seussian verse is ably accompanied by Anderson 's bright and textured acrylics, which adopt the perspectives of all the artists, be they babies or sea gulls. Humor abounds: A snake, an octopus and a skunk stare the mayor down; at the Fair, the otters ' portraits are true classics; endpapers show seascapes in the style of children 's drawings. A pleasant romp into the serious business of the environment and democracy. (Picture book. 4-8)

(COPYRIGHT (2008) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 1, 2009
PreS-Gr 2-Mirra Bella, who teaches art on Ballyhoo Beach to children and grannies, as well as pelicans, otters, seals and crabs, seagulls and squids, is stunned one day when a signpost appears announcing that the beach will be closed-a developer plans to build penthouse apartments and a casino. Mirra Bella draws up a plan to leave the beach as it is for all to enjoy and presents it to the town council. Her idea is overwhelmingly adopted, and the recycled-art fair takes place the next day as planned. Lively, humorous acrylic cartoons have a buoyancy that captures the sparkle of the seaside setting and the exaggerated antics of the characters. This upbeat ecological message is delivered with plenty of panache. Told in rhyming couplets, the story reads aloud well."Sally R. Dow, Ossining Public Library, NY"

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