Lost in a Good Book

Published: 1st February 2019
Publisher: Scholastic
Illustrator: Minky Stapleton
Pages: 30
Format: Picture Book
★   ★   ★   ★   ★  – 5 Stars

‘Look in the water, Ma!
Golly, oh gee!
Some THING in the sea
is TOUCHING ME!’

You’ll squawk, screech, yelp… and laugh out loud at the surprises for all on this funny-sunny family day at the beach.

When a small child goes to the seaside with her Mum and Ma, she is unprepared for ‘things’ floating in the water. Ma explains what each one is and that it is nothing to be afraid of.

As someone who is not a fan of going in the ocean this book is perfect for me. I will admire the ocean, I will be on top of it, watch things under it, but physically being in it is highly stressful. Enter Keegan and their wonderful book.

Of course this isn’t a story about the stress of the ocean, it’s a fun family day out and the little girl is so keen to jump right in…until something touches her. Her reaction is my reaction. Her fantastic dramatic cries of horror are mine and I adored how Keegan uses this as a hilarious story but also a reassuring, loving, and educational one as well. Stapleton’s illustrations are delightful and the mixture of the beautiful ocean scenes and creatures coincides with the drama from the young girl and her cries of terror.

What was wonderful it took me a long time to realise this had a same sex couple in it. I was so caught up in the story and the drama of the things in the sea that it didn’t register. An honestly that’s how it should be, a non-issue in a book because Mum and Ma are in the story but the story isn’t about them.

The rhyming is fantastic, the repetition is brilliant and I loved the different explanations for all the things in the sea, especially because it’s a lot different than the seas I’m used to going in (when I am forced to go in them at all).

You can purchase Things in the Sea are Touching Me! via the following

 Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust