I am the ocean
Kindergarten-Grade 3-- This picture book personifies the ocean in a voice that inspires awe and delight. In lovely conceits that stress its physical beauty and power, it speaks of tides (``I dance with the moon'') or recalls the past (``Once I wet the toes of dinosaurs,/ but that was long ago.''). In 15 double-page spreads, sea birds, mammals, fish, and enlarged diatoms appear in colorful, stylized paintings alongside the measured incantations, all framed by white space. Flat, patterned shapes--some fish and waves in an Oriental style, others more naturalistic in design--appear against brushed colors of sky, sand, and sea. Polar bears ride ice floes, flying fish are frozen in motion, and starfish move below a slab of sea above which the big dipper shines. The text is also patterned, but not predictable, and the artist's interpretations are evocative and pleasing. A beautiful and accessible book for sharing. --Ruth M. McConnell, San Antonio Public LibraryCopyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.