Ahoy!

Starred review from January 15, 2024
A child helps an adult sail away in this high-seas adventure from two-time Caldecott Medalist Blackall. On one side of a room, an adult in a yellow beanie vacuums a round blue rug; on the other, a child in a striped jersey and black cap is busy with a project. Hand-lettered text balloons animate the pale-skinned characters’ exchange. Asked what they’re playing, the child replies, “I’M NOT PLAYING!” Asked why they’re shouting, they respond, “BECAUSE THERE’S A STORM COMING!... I’M FITTING OUT OUR SHIP AND PREPARING TO SAIL!” The adult’s protests around engaging (“I can’t right now, Peanut...”) are urgently dismissed, and the caretaker is lured in with a promise that they’ll be allowed to help draw the map. After that, wrinkles in the rug become realistic waves, and chairs draped with toilet paper turn into a full-size ship sailing a whale-populated sea. When a phone call interrupts (“WE ARE IN THE DOLDRUMS,” the child hollers, face down), the grown-
up finds a sparkling way to get things going again. Visual inventiveness pays homage to shared adventures in this work that toggles dynamically between two competing universes—and in which the child’s reality, and fitting vocabulary, take command (“HOLD FAST TO THE MIZZENMAST!”). Includes a glossary of nautical jargon. Ages 4–8. Agent: Nancy Gallt, Gallt & Zacker Literary

February 15, 2024
Using one's imagination is a lot easier when everybody is on board. "What are you playing?" an amused parent asks a small child. The little one cries out resolutely, "I'M NOT PLAYING!" After all, a storm is on its way, and it's time to fit out the ship. The adult's gentle protestations ("Um, I kind of need to vacuum the rug") are no match for the undeniable fact that the rug is, in fact, the ocean. Soon enough the two are raising the mainsail, swabbing the poop deck, hoisting the burgee, and more (a helpful glossary of sailing terms is included). In spite of the occasional cell phone interruption (the child, facedown on the rug, laments, "We are in the doldrums" when the adult takes a call), all is put right when the adult gets back into the spirit of things, fielding an attack against a giant squid (aka the vacuum cleaner). Rescues, distress signals, hungry sharks--it all adds up to a wonderful time. That rug is never getting vacuumed. Blackall slips with ease between fantasy and reality, and young readers will have oodles of fun watching as socks morph into seagulls and paper towel tubes become telescopes. It's also nice to see a book where the notion of turning off your cell phone is aimed more directly at the parents than the kids. All characters are light-skinned. Avast, me mateys! This be good clean fun on the salty seas. (Picture book. 3-6)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 1, 2024
Picture books about imaginary play can be belabored or overly precious. Not so Blackall's brilliantly constructed latest. The opening setting is a living room (just a suggestion of one -- we mostly see an ocean-colored rug). Here we meet a child gathering items needed for a pretend sea voyage while an adult vacuums. As the child exhorts the adult to join in, we begin to see intimations of the coming seascape: the cat, poking its head under the rug, creates swelling waves; patterned pillows evoke shark fins; etc. Then, with a page-turn, we are plunged into the book's make-believe world -- child and adult aboard a fully rigged multi-masted schooner on the high seas, about to encounter a storm (and sharks!). The mixed-media and digital illustrations are alternately gorgeous and rich in character and humor. For example, on one spread the adult's cell phone rings ("blah blah blah..."), temporarily returning us to real life ("we are in the doldrums," bemoans the discouraged child). Blackall excels at setting the stage for the imaginary play with one-to-one equivalents (the vacuum, with its long cord, easily transforms into a giant squid; a paper-towel roll becomes a spyglass) and then making us forget all that, immersing us in the book's imaginary world, wholly capturing the experience of imaginary play. "ANCHORS...AWEIGH!" Glossary of sailing terms included. Martha V. Parravano

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

April 1, 2024
Preschool-Grade 2 *Starred Review* In the living room, a young sea captain warns his vacuuming sailor (a parent) that the rug is, in fact, the rising ocean, and they must climb aboard the ship! As they hoist the burgee and raise the mainsail, a complex chair-fort transforms into a staunch seafaring vessel and the rug becomes a teeming ocean. Although they briefly hit the doldrums when the parent takes a phone call, soon the vacuum cord becomes the tentacles of a giant squid and the sailors are stranded on a rapidly melting iceberg surrounded by swarming sharks, rescued in the nick of time by a lighthouse (artist wink) arriving in the form of a second parent who joins the play. This delightful tale highlights and celebrates the powerful bonding that happens when caregivers engage in imaginative play with children. It's a spectacular tale of adventure on the high seas, complete with a glossary of maritime terminology for the deckhands and first mates who may not yet be fluent. Blackall uses hand-lettered text and Procreate artwork with a mix of gouache, pencil, and watercolor to create spectacular ocean vistas and beautifully lit living rooms alike. With her trademark skill, these pages are richly textured and infinitely layered, from the wood of the mast to the ripple of the waves. Tiny sea captains everywhere will cherish this lovely tale.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from June 14, 2024

K-Gr 2-In this nearly wordless nautical romp a parent makes the right choice-abandoning a vacuum cleaner to join a child about to set sail over a rumpled carpet ocean in a ship made from piled furniture and bric-a-brac. Their faces alive with contagious excitement, the doll-like mariners in Blackall's alternating domestic and watery scenes break out the sailor talk-"HOIST THE BURGEE!"; "Swab the poop deck!"-as they're tossed about by rogue waves, take a breather in the doldrums while the first mate answers a phone call, then go on to giddy encounters with whales, giant squid, and sharks. Nor does the voyage end when a second grownup appears in the doorway: "I guess it's time to vacuum the rug," "WHAT RUG!" Along with modeling a loving family in which the adults recognize the importance of taking time to play, the Caldecott multi-medalist tucks several subtexts into her seemingly simple episode. For one, there are no gender cues in either art or narrative, and for another all three family members have lightly, ambiguously toned skin. Furthermore, while all wear tight-fitting caps on their round heads, two of the trio are hairless (apart from thin eyebrows) like patients undergoing chemotherapy or with some other condition; at least the suggestion is there, to be taken up or not by readers familiar with the look from their own families or experiences. VERDICT Imagination fills the sails of this rousing, unusually inclusive, yarn.-John Edward Peters

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2024
Picture books about imaginary play can be belabored or overly precious. Not so Blackall's brilliantly constructed latest. The opening setting is a living room (just a suggestion of one -- we mostly see an ocean-colored rug). Here we meet a child gathering items needed for a pretend sea voyage while an adult vacuums. As the child exhorts the adult to join in, we begin to see intimations of the coming seascape: the cat, poking its head under the rug, creates swelling waves; patterned pillows evoke shark fins; etc. Then, with a page-turn, we are plunged into the book's make-believe world -- child and adult aboard a fully rigged multi-masted schooner on the high seas, about to encounter a storm (and sharks!). The mixed-media and digital illustrations are alternately gorgeous and rich in character and humor. For example, on one spread the adult's cell phone rings ("blah blah blah..."), temporarily returning us to real life ("we are in the doldrums," bemoans the discouraged child). Blackall excels at setting the stage for the imaginary play with one-to-one equivalents (the vacuum, with its long cord, easily transforms into a giant squid; a paper-towel roll becomes a spyglass) and then making us forget all that, immersing us in the book's imaginary world, wholly capturing the experience of imaginary play. "ANCHORS...AWEIGH!" Glossary of sailing terms included.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)