Hello Ocean

by Pam Munoz Ryan, Mark Astrella (Illustrator)

Overview

"Hello, ocean,
my old best friend."

Relive a day at the beach with this lovely book of memories. You can almost feel the salt spray on your face and smell the musky scent of ocean in the cool morning air. Remember how the sand squishes between your toes as the tide rushes to shore and taste the tang of the ocean on your lips. HELLO OCEAN is a joy-filled and playful poem about the draw of the shore and the effect the ocean has on all five senses. Spirited language evokes a sense of closeness and nostalgia for an old friend. The inspiration of the ocean will make learning the five senses as easy as a day at the beach.

Crisp, realistic illustrations fill the pages with the rush of surf and the warmth of sun-baked sand. The sights and smells and sensations of the ocean become vividly clear in these beautifully rendered paintings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780881069884
Publisher:	Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.
Publication date:	02/28/2001
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	53,047
Product dimensions:	10.98(w) x 8.28(h) x 0.13(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Pam Muñoz Ryan is a native of California. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees at San Diego State University and she worked as a bilingual teacher and an early childhood administrator before dedicating herself full-time to writing. She wrote her first book at the age of 32 at the encouragement of a friend. She has written many picture books for young children and novels for older students. Pam lives in California with her husband and four children. She often speaks at schools and conferences about writing and literacy.

Editorial Reviews

This rhyming picture book about the pleasures of a day at the beach gets off to a rocky start. "Hello, ocean,/ my old best friend./ I'm here,/ with the five of me, again!" read the opening lines, but only four figures appear on the page. It may take repeated readings for youngsters to understand that the "five of me" refers to the girl's five senses--despite the bold type for words like "hear" and "sounds" (though, curiously, in the first verse, "I see the ocean,/ gray, green, blue,..." the word "see" is not in bold). Ryan's (Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride; Esperanza Rising) descriptions of the seaside are strongest when she sticks to concrete examples of the child's experience: the look of "amber seaweed,/ speckled sand,/ bubbly waves that kiss the land" and the feel of "squishy,/ sandy,/ soggy ground,/ slippery seaweed that wraps around." Her metaphors, on the other hand, sometimes become abstract ("I hear the ocean,/ a lion's roar,/ crashing rumors/ toward the shore"). Astrella's (The Desert Alphabet Book) acrylics on airbrushed paper take on an almost photographic quality. His sun-washed shades vary in intensity from the subtly blended blues and greens of the surf to a range of beach-ball tones: the orange of a seagull's feet, the pinks and purples of a bathing suit and the fire-engine red of a picnic cooler. Ages 3-8. (Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A young girl experiences the many treasures of the ocean through each of her five senses. Her eyes view the bubbly waves and the forever changing color of the ocean. She can hear the distant boats and the screech of the gulls. Her fingers squish into the sand, as she smells the scent of fresh salt. The taste of the ocean reminds her of the tears she sometimes cries. The beautifully illustrated pages of this book make it a must buy. The use of rich acrylic colors makes these illustrations pop right off the page. It is a great book to share with your child before a trip to the beach. 2001, Tradewinds, $16.95 and $6.95. Ages 3 to 6. Reviewer: Sharon Tolle

Children's Literature

PreS-Gr 2-In rhyming couplets, a girl describes the sights, sounds, smell, feel, and taste of saltwater waves breaking on the shore. Evocative paintings, with realistic figures that seem to be superimposed on strong, bright-colored acrylics, reflect the beach setting. Unfortunately, there is no consistency in the depiction of the child narrator; facial features, hair, and even skin tone change dramatically from one spread to another.-Sally R. Dow, Ossining Public Library, NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

paper: 0-88106-988-4 An eloquent tribute to the wonders of the sea, also functioning on a more pragmatic level as an introduction to the five senses. Ryan (Esperanza Rising, 2000, etc.) celebrates the many marvels of the ocean as experienced through a child's sense of taste, touch, sight, smell, and hearing. Several stanzas of verse, spread out over multiple pages, are dedicated to each sense, each scene focusing on familiar seashore activities of young children: dodging among the waves, constructing sandcastles, savoring the warmth of the sun. The gentle rhymes are at once descriptive and instructive, offering an almost tangible awareness of the ocean as well as an understanding of each particular sense. Each appears in boldface as an added reminder for readers."I smell the ocean, / the fresh salt wind, wafting lotions / from suntanned skin." Astrella's (The Butterfly Alphabet Book, not reviewed, etc.) acrylic paintings are spectacular. Full-color, full-bleed illustrations form a vibrant setting for Ryan's verse, deftly capturing the vivid hues of the seas, with the dark indigos of deep waters and sheer turquoises of shallower depths. Beautifully written and illustrated, this striking picture book is the next best thing to being there. (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews