We'll All Go Sailing
Richard Thompson and Maggee Spicer join forces with Kim LaFave in this colorful tour of the seas. The young narrator and his friends, Maggee and Jesse, travel to a myriad of places to look at sea life that is every color of the rainbow. Children will delight in the pink octopus, the blue manatee, and the orange barracuda, to name but a few.
Richard Thompson and Maggee Spicer have created a rhythmic poem (in the same vein as their ealier collaboration, Fishes in the Ocean) that will encourage the very youngest of new readers. Together with Kim La Fave's bold and playful illustrations, this delightful poem will make a fine book To show what we'll see, When we all go sailing On the rainbow seas.
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Husband and wife team Richard Thompson and Maggie Spicer have collaborated on three books in the We'll All Go series as well as the early reader, Fishes in the Ocean. Richard is also the author of The Follower, The Night Walker, Then and Now, and There is Music in a Pussy Cat. They make their home in Prince George, British Columbia.
Kim LaFave:
Award-winning illustrator Kim LaFave has illustrated many books for children including Big Ben, We'll All Go series and the early readers Emma's Emu, Andrew's Magnificent Mountain of Mittens and Andrew - Catch That Cat!. Kim lives with his family in Roberts Creek, British Columbia.
." . . La Fave_s intense colours, with his three Katzenjammer Kids-like picnickers, make this picture book visually lively and an effective tool for talking about colours. Broad black outlines highlight bouncing waves and exotic sea creatures that fairly jump off the page." - Deirdre Baker, The Toronto Star
This well designed picture book introduces both colors and sea animals. The first page shows three children headed to their sailboat. Each double page spread that follows features a half page flap on the left bearing a variation of this question. "we_ll all go sailing/ On the coral black sea/ And what will we see/ In the sea, We three?" The flap folds out to give the answer: "A yellow seahorse/ And a hot pink squid!/ That_s what we_ll see/ In the coral black sea." The repeated pattern of the rhyming text and visual clues that allow children to guess make this book a good book to read aloud... Still the boldly conceived and vividly colored artwork is visually absorbing, and the jaunty air of the child characters remains charming throughout. - Booklist
"_We_ll all go sailing/On the great wide seas --/My friend Maggee/And Jesse and me._ So begins a rollicking tale of adventure at sea featuring three small, cartoonish characters in a red sailboat on an indigo blue sea. Almost eclipsing the sea shanty, though, is the visual and tactile adventure that this picture book offers. _With billowy sails/And a brisk sea breeze--/Sailing, sailing/On the great wide seas._ What next? Well, unfold the page and it extends itself by a third. There_s more blue sea and more song: _We_ll all go sailing/On the deep, blue sea./And what will we see/In the sea, we three?_ Turn the extension over and what do we see? _A pink octopus, /And a purple shark!/That_s what we_ll see/in the deep, blue sea._ An age-appropriate amount of suspense keeps things rolling along nicely to a satisfactory conclusion." - The Globe and Mail
"_We_ll all go sailing/On the great wide seas/My friend Maggee/And Jesse and me._ This bouncy opening line conveys the joyful tone of this picture book for preschoolers. Small hands can open the nine gatefolds that reveal sea creatures and answer the repeated question: _And what will we see/In the sea, we three?_ As in many books for preschoolers, this one includes an array of colours and animals. The sea and the creatures in it are a different colour in every spread. Barracuda, eels, and sea slugs are a sampling of the unusual creatures encountered by the sailors. Strangely, the unconventional spelling "narwhale" is used rather than the more correct "narwhal." Senses are vivid in the descriptions of the _cold, _ the _cool, _ and the _hot_ sea. Each learning element is smoothly integrated into this story, which begs to be read again and again. Illustrator Kim LaFave successfully test-drives a new style of art in this latest picture book. Boldly coloured sea creatures with thick, dark outlines lie against a high-contrast background. The trio in the boat resemble figures from Popeye, while many of the other images have the simple feel of the work of the late New York artist Keith Haring, but with lots of added texture. The _green jellyfish_ and the _bright blue cod_ splashed against a canary yellow background in one memorable spread create a fabulous impact. The poem at the end provides the full text on one page for those who want to savour just the words. Clearly, both the illustrations and the writing are solid enough to stand alone, but together, the effect is superb." - STARRED REVIEW, The Quill and Quire
"Illustrator Kim LaFave successfully test-drives a new style of art in this latest picture book. Boldly coloured sea creatures with thick, dark outlines lie against a high-contrast background. The trio in the boat resemble figures from Popeye, while many of the other images have the simple feel of the work of the late New York artist Keith Haring, but with lots of added texture. The 'green jellyfish' and the 'bright blue cod' splashed against a canary yellow background in one memorable spread create a fabulous impact. The poem at the end provides the full text on one page for those who want to savour just the words. Clearly, both the illustrations and the writing are solid enough to stand alone, but together, the effect is superb."
-- STARRED REVIEW, The Quill and Quire
"A rollicking tale of adventure at sea featuring three small, cartoonish characters in a red sailboat on an indigo blue sea. Almost eclipsing the sea shanty, though, is the visual and tactile adventure that this picture book offers. . . An age-appropriate amount of suspense keeps things rolling along nicely to a satisfactory conclusion."
-- The Globe and Mail
." . . La Fave's intense colours, with his three Katzenjammer Kids-like picnickers, make this picture book visually lively and an effective tool for talking about colours. Broad black outlines highlight bouncing waves and exotic sea creatures that fairly jump off the page."
-- The Toronto Star
"This well designed picture book introduces both colors and sea animals. . . The repeated pattern of the rhyming text and visual clues that allow children to guess make this book a good book to read aloud. . . The boldly conceived and vividly colored artwork is visually absorbing, and the jaunty air of the child characters remains charming throughout."
-- Booklist
"Colour is a defining feature . . . in the hands of the British Columbia trio of Maggee Spicer, Richard Thompson and Kim LaFave in We'll All Go Sailing. Authors Spicer and Thompson have crafted a simple adventure that sails through LaFave's bold and colourful underwater art. . . This nautical adventure will be a hit with the preschool set, not to mention their parents."
-- The Hamilton Spectator
