Water Sings Blue

Starred review from February 27, 2012
Coombs punctuates her sweeping, lullaby-like poems about the ocean with surprising personification and unexpected imagery. “My name’s Frank Hermit,” says a hermit crab, a seaside real estate agent. “I have listings for periwinkles,/ whelks, and wentletraps;/ turbans, tops, and moon shells;/ a palatial conch, perhaps?” She describes a jellyfish in short, lush lines: “Deep water shimmers./ A wind-shape passes,/ kimono trailing.” So’s watercolor spreads are supple and filled with life—fish cluster around the “wide green map/ on Sea Turtle’s back,” while a gulper eel is entwined with a dragonlike oarfish. Like the tide that repeats, “I was here,/ wasss here/ wasssss here...” the evocative descriptions and images echo and linger. Ages 4–8. Agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.

Starred review from March 15, 2012
Twenty-three poems and evocative watercolor paintings pay tribute to the wonders of the ocean world. The versatile Coombs shows she's as adept at poetry as she is at concocting or adapting fairy tales (Hans My Hedgehog, 2012, etc.). She invites young readers into her celebration with an opening "Song of the Boat" and ends with the message of the "Tideline." "'Don't forget me-- / I was here, / wasss h e r e / wasssss h e r e ...'" Varied rhyme and rhythmic patterns and surprising connections characterize these relatively short poems, which read aloud well and stick in the memory. There's humor, interesting language and intriguing imagery, as when the Gulper Eel's "astronomical maw" is compared to a black hole. Thoughtful organization and placement of text on the page and So's wavery, watery illustrations extend the poems' meaning. A series of couplets describing "What the Waves Say" is illustrated with panels of varying water-surface patterns. Three different jellyfish poems share a double-page spread; another spread emphasizes the size of a blue whale with its vertical orientation and a shipwreck lying at the bottom. Sand-colored endpapers show objects washed up on shore: a shell, a feather, a crab's claw and what might just be the remains of a footprint. Share this admirable appreciation with a wide audience. (Picture book/poetry. 4-10)

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Starred review from May 1, 2012

PreS-Gr 4-A jaunty "Song of the Boat" opens this evocative collection designed to capture the life and spirit of the sea. The 23 pieces showcase a range of poetic forms while looking at each subject from a unique and interesting perspective. Readers do a little shopping in a tide pool, check out the local real estate with Frank Hermit, and experience the drama of a sea urchin's love story. ("The sea urchin fell in love with a fork./With a tremble of purple spines, /she told her mother, 'He's tall, not a ball, /but just look at his wonderful tines!'") Bookended by sandy endpapers showing footprints among feathers and shells, the loose watercolors are beautifully rendered and take readers deeper inside the heart of the verses. From spot art to panels to full spreads, each page turn surprises but also further unifies the collection with color, shape, and movement. Some selections are fast paced and full of humor while others are more contemplative. Closing with an ode to the tide line, this accessible collection is a trip to the beach anytime readers want to go.-Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2012
Grades 1-4 *Starred Review* In her first book of poetry, Coombs takes inspiration from the ocean and lets her imagination range freely. Some poems speak in creative voices, such as a boat's song, which celebrates the contrast between land and sea, or a little fish's prayer, which reveals the creature's fears. Blue Whale observes the astronomical size and motion of a passing whale, while Shipwreck offers an epitaph for a sunken ship. Varied in form and tone as well as subject, these short, precisely worded poems offer new takes on seemingly familiar subjects and subtly shift the reader's way of seeing. So's watercolor illustrations work in tandem with the playful, evocative verse, taking key words and ideas as inspiration for brilliantly watery scenes that are sometimes brightly colored, sometimes barely tinted, but consistently well balanced and well executed. Increasingly, books of poems on curriculum-related subjects include information along with the verse or in the back matter, a choice with benefits as well as potential pitfalls. Leaving the science to subject specialists and the research to motivated readers, this beautifully illustrated volume concentrates on what the poet does best: poetry. An excellent source of verse for reading aloud.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)