Lula and the Sea Monster

August 23, 2019

PreS-Gr 2-Upon walking out from her beachfront house, Lula spots and rescues Bean, a tiny sea creature resembling an octopus. After several days of eating Lula's sandwiches, Bean grows from being finger-sized to gargantuan and the two have become devoted friends. The digitally-colored pencil drawings feature a charming, beachy palette full of blues and corals, but a vague conservationist plot flattens whatever effervescence the illustrations offer. A new seaside highway threatens Lula's home; after befriending Bean, Lula concludes she must stop the development. The demolition drivers ignore Lula's protests, but they can't ignore Bean, who sends off the bulldozers and halts the highway construction. Bean's static facial expression renders the friendship story mild, and the unfocused environmentalism doesn't help. VERDICT Latimer pairs a girl-and-her-monster story with a half-hearted pitch for citizen activism in this middling picture book. A workaday friendly-monster tale best suited for uncritical beach lovers.-Robbin E. Friedman, Chappaqua Library, NY

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2019
A young girl and her family are on the verge of losing their home on the beach. Urbanization has reached the beachfront, and the house Lula and her family live in is threatened by bulldozers to make room for a "huge highway." Savoring her limited time left on the beach, Lula goes on a quest to find "treasures" but ends up saving "the tiniest creature" she sees in a tide pool from a hungry sea gull. She aptly names him Bean for his small size. Enamored with her new friend, Lula brings Bean all sorts of food: sandwiches, fruit, pastries, and even a jar of pickles. As their friendship flourishes, so does Bean's size--so much so that he no longer fits on one page. When the bulldozers arrive to claim the beach, Lula finds the courage to stand up for her home and the home of "millions of creatures" like Bean. Latimer's clever use of shadows and light helps convey the emotions of the protagonist while the bright, bold colors of the pencil-and-digital illustrations give life to the story's otherwise simple text. The pink, squidlike Bean is perfectly adorable. Though Lula, her parents, and several background characters have varying hair colors, all appear light skinned. A colorful and uplifting story that is more than just a beach read. (Picture book. 4-7)

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