Surf's Up

by Kwame Alexander, Daniel Miyares (Illustrator)

Overview

Surf's up! Not yet, Dude! Books are boring! Not this one! Bro and Dude have very different ideas about how to spend the day at the beach. But as Bro continues to gasp and cheer as he reads his book (Moby Dick), Dude can't help but get curious. Before you can shout 'Surf's up!' both frogs are sharing the same adventure, that is, until they get to the beach. Newbery Medal Winner, Kwame Alexander, and Daniel Miyares have joined forces to give little listeners a wild ride.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735842205
Publisher:	NorthSouth Books
Publication date:	02/01/2016
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	165,685
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	AD310L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Kwame Alexander is a poet, author of 18 books, and recipient of the 2015 Newbery Medal for his novel, THE CROSSOVER. The founder of two literacy organizations: Book-in-a-Day and LEAP for Ghana, he regularly travels the world conducting writing/publishing

Editorial Reviews

The Newbery winner Alexander…and the enchanting, versatile Miyares…playfully topple the "reluctant reader" idea.

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

★ 11/09/2015
“You’d rather read a book than go to the beach?” A surfer frog named Dude can’t believe that his fellow surfer frog Bro is sticking with a “boring” book instead of hanging 10. But after hearing Bro’s running commentary on the book’s Moby-Dick-esque plot, Dude gets just as carried away. “Batten down the hatches!” shouts Bro, who has cast himself as Ahab in the midst of a mighty storm. “Do what to the what?” asks Dude—but he’s right there on board the ship, too. Alexander, the 2015 Newbery Medalist for The Crossover, starts off at full throttle and never lets up: almost every line of this all-dialogue story ends in an exclamation point, and the liberal use of bright, all-caps typography ratchets up the emotions even higher. But the real excitement is in Miyares’s (Float) wondrously rollicking drawings. Working in saturated colors and boldly graphic textures, he sends these big-eyed, freaked-out frogs hurtling (often literally) between fantasy and reality. It’s a wild ride on the sea of imagination, and a rousing high-five to the power of reading. Ages 4–8. Illustrator’s agency: Studio Goodwin Sturges. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

*Starred Review: "Working in saturated colors and boldly graphic textures, he [Miyares] sends these big-eyed, freaked-out frogs hurtling (often literally) between fantasy and reality. It’s a wild ride on the sea of imagination, and a rousing high-five to the power of reading."- Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Alexander—poet, educator, author, and Newbery winner—follows two frogs to the beach on a sparkling day that later turns stormy with adventure. Dude is a green frog with red shorts; Bro is a brown frog with a blue book. Though the surf’s up, Bro just has to finish his book—Moby Dick. When Dude cannot imagine why Bro could prefer a boring book to surfing, a shout of “Wowie Kazowie!” begins to draw him in—a man has encountered a whale. When Dude asks: “Did the whale eat him?” they are off on a rousing replay of Moby Dick with Bro as Captain Ahab. Looming is a huge white sperm whale with an evil eye. Now both frogs (Dude’s a sailor) are aboard the Peguod. With hatches battened and spray flying, the mast cracks and the whaling ship goes down into a dark blue sea. Bro proclaims the book “totally awesome!” Will he tell Dude how it turned out? In the final, calmer spread, kids see the green frog immersed in the book, while the brown frog revels in the surf. Cowabunga! (Yes, exclamation points abound.) With Miyares’ saturated colors and visually exciting spreads, young viewers will surely perceive that books can be great. Even the endpapers will entice: in front, brilliant blue with surging white foam; at the end, a beach littered with relics of the Captain—his hat, an oar, a lifebuoy, and a spyglass. Let’s hope that one day they will dip into Ishmaels’s saga themselves! Reviewer: Barbara L. Talcroft; Ages 4 to 8.

Children's Literature - Barbara L. Talcroft

12/01/2015
PreS-K—Bro and Dude, two frog friends, have differing ideas about what makes for a fun day at the beach. Dude, dressed in swim trunks, surfboard in hand, is totally ready to catch some waves. Bro, meanwhile, has his head buried in a book (Moby-Dick) and wants to keep reading. Despite his claim that "books are boring," Dude finds himself increasingly interested in the story about a man looking for a whale. As the characters make their way to the seashore, Bro reads aloud and the illustrations transform to showcase the action of Melville's classic tale, cleverly substituting Bro the frog in the place of Captain Ahab. Pirate lingo ("Batten down the hatches!") and surfer slang ("Cowabunga!") enliven the story and will have young listeners giggling. Miyares's digitally created illustrations are expressive and full of energy and motion—a perfect complement to Alexander's simple yet buoyant text. VERDICT A joyful and humor-filled ode to the magic of imagination and reading.—Kiera Parrott, School Library Journal

School Library Journal

★ 2015-11-03
A sunny day near the ocean means different kinds of excitement for frog friends Bro and Dude. Dude peeks into the window: "SURF'S UP, BRO!" But Bro is too immersed in a book to respond ("You'd rather read a book than go to the beach?" Dude asks incredulously), so Dude pops pal and surfboard onto the back of his push scooter. On the way, Bro is still reading: "WOWIE KAZOWIE!" The story ("about a man looking for a whale") begins to unfold around them both. The looming whale, a stormy sea, a ship with a frog sporting a bicorn hat at the helm, and the mast cracking in two are suddenly right at hand. Bro's thrilled enthusiasm and punchy exclamations as he finishes the book finally elicit Dude's eager questions: "Did they catch the whale? Who got the gold?" and Bro's sly response, "Not telling." Miyares' edge-to-edge illustrations, full of motion, capture in these frog characters a friendship that offers space to be oneself, with a nice reversal at the end: Dude has his nose in the book ("WHOA, DADDY-O"), and Bro catches a wave ("COWABUNGA!"). Newbery winner (The Crossover, 2014) Alexander's humorous, tautly poetic dialogue between friends begs to be read aloud to small listeners or by new readers, and these frogs have cultural punch that many plain-vanilla animal characters lack. The nod to Moby-Dick is a bonus. A warmhearted tribute to reading. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews