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Summary
Summary
Did you hear about little Amy Scott? She got a goldfish for her birthday and then just threw it in the ocean! That doesn't seem right.
I guess Sherman and Sadie will have to go save little Ellsworth (every fish deserves a proper name) on their own. They'll need:
A boat
Fishing gear
Twenty-one pink balloons
A bucket of paint
And
Appropriate headwear in case of weather--good or bad
Don't worry. Ellsworth is in good hands now, but what ever happened to little Amy Scott?
Join Sadie ( Special Delivery ) on another adventure in The Only Fish in the Sea , a delightful picture book by Philip C. Stead and Matthew Cordell.
A Neal Porter Book
Author Notes
Philip C. Stead is the author of the 2011 Caldecott Medal book A Sick Day for Amos McGee . Books that he has recently written and illustrated include Ideas Are All Around and Samson in the Snow. He previously collaborated with Matthew Cordell on Special Delivery. Philip lives with his wife, illustrator Erin E. Stead, in Michigan.
Matthew Cordell has illustrated many books for children including Special Delivery by Philip C. Stead, a Washington Post Best Book of 2015. He is the author and illustrator of several picture books including Wolf In The Snow , Another Brother , Wish , and Hello! Hello! . Matthew lives outside of Chicago with his wife, author Julie Halpern, and their two children.
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Sadie, the inimitable hero of Special Delivery, has returned. Her arrow-straight sense of justice sends her in search of a birthday goldfish that Little Amy Scott has thrown into the sea, plastic bag and all. Sadie's friend Sherman and the hilarious gang of monkeys from Special Delivery sprint to keep up as Sadie borrows a boat, plots a route, and sets off; her supreme confidence delivers them to precisely the right spot in the ocean, and Ellsworth ("Every fish deserves a proper name," Sadie declares) is rescued in the nick of time. The monkeys' mayhem is beautifully choreographed, Sherman is promoted to a full-fledged character, and Sadie's obliviousness to nautical danger provides a keen sense of fun. (A fine Cordell split screen shows Sadie pouring Sherman a civilized cup of tea as a sperm whale threatens to upend the craft from below.) Stead never takes Sadie's campaign for virtue too seriously, yet her shining sense of justice lingers long after the silliness subsides. Ages 3-6. Author's agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management. Illustrator's agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Not quite a fish story, but one with broad humor in text and illustrations, Stead and Cordells (Special Delivery, rev. 3/15) latest collaboration invites careful looking and sure laughter. Front-matter pages get the story started with a boy named Sherman pedaling determinedly on his bicycle toward the first page-turn. Hes on a mission to tell his friend Sadie about Little Amy Scott, who has just rudely rejected a goldfish as a birthday present and then unceremoniously tossed the poor thing (still in a plastic baggie) into the sea. He must feel like the only fish in the sea, worries sensitive Sherman. Sadie, ably fixing her own bike, is the clear opposite of snooty Little Amy Scott, and she immediately sets off to rescue the goldfish, whom she dubs Ellsworth because every fish deserves a proper name. The two friends gather an odd array of supplies with the help of a band of monkeys that goes unmentioned in the text but whose antics, in Cordells energetic ink-and-watercolor illustrations, add much to the storys humor. Throughout, Cordells style is reminiscent of Quentin Blakes work, with comically perilous seafaring scenes that recall the Miss Armitage picture books. Meanwhile, Steads text contains echoes of Dahls writing, with moments of dark humor, a satisfying comeuppance for Little Amy Scott, and a surfeit of heart in the child heroes rescue of lost Ellsworth. megan dowd lambert (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The creators of Special Delivery (2015) offer another adventuresome odyssey, undertaken to bring a stranger to a welcoming new home. When snotty Little Amy Scott rejects a birthday goldfish by chucking it into the sea, still in its plastic bag, young Sherman imagining, in Stead's sonorous narrative, that poor fish all alone, floating away, and away, and away, and away joins his briskly can-do friend Sadie in a rowboat rescue. In exuberant, Quentin Blake-style watercolors, Cordell inserts a crew of monkeys in Jack Tar dress, a comical cast of sailors who also help the two gather the necessary nautical gear. After weathering high seas, a giant squid, and other watery hazards, the rescuers bring the finny refugee to a town-fountain haven. When he is hungry, we will feed him, Sadie promises, as smiling residents gather round. And when he is lonely, we will keep him company. (Compassionate to the last, Sherman wonders about Little Amy: She'll spend her birthday alone, Sadie sniffs. And that's all right.) This is comforting fare for children, especially those who themselves have been cast adrift, and sensitive readers in more secure situations may even spare some sympathy for Little Amy.--Peters, John Copyright 2017 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
WHILE SOME SEA STORIES are mainly good for a pirate-? thrill, others take young readers a bit deeper. The vast scope and power of the high seas makes the world's oceans a dramatic setting for stories for those just getting their sea-legs as thoughtful, feeling, capable humans. Four new picture books leave dry land behind to reflect on the rewards and perils of friendship, empathy, courage and more. The stakes are high in Mordicai Gerstein's "The Boy and The Whale," a tautly constructed narrative about a fisherman's son who wishes to free a whale from the net his father depends on for his livelihood. As the story unfolds, Gerstein, winner of the 2004 Caldecott Medal for "The Man Who Walked Between the Towers," leaves readers in suspense as to whether the whale can in fact be saved, whether the task is too much for a child, and whether sparing an animal's life is worth risking the family's economic survival. In the moral logic of the tale, pragmatic considerations cannot be ignored, but empathy for the suffering takes precedence. Gerstein cinches the case in a scene in which the boy, a nimble diver, comes eye to eye with the captive creature and decides that along with the whale's life his own humanity hangs in the balance. Gerstein draws in a fluid, unfussy penline with overlays of watercolor that wash each scene in a warmly articulated light. He neither names his characters nor identifies their ethnic or national background, wisely so in a story whose underlying dilemma might present itself-whale or no whale-to anyone anywhere. Readers who like their sea sagas with a splash of humor may prefer "The Only Fish in the Sea." When a cartoonish-ly crabby girl named Little Amy Scott hurls an unwanted goldfish from a pier, two indignant friends lay plans for a rescue mission. It is this story's attractive premise- as it is that of children's own make-believe fantasies-that feats of heroism as grand as the one Sadie and Sherman contemplate are well within their grasp. Sure enough, clever Sadie, with easy-going Sherman at her side, knows exactly how to fit out a longboat, assemble a crew of smartly attired sailor-chimps, and make for open waters. As the details of their helter-skelter adventure unspool in Matthew Cordell's frizzy, pert, deadpan drawings, Philip C. Stead, whose tonally adroit knack for comedic dialog recalls Charles Schulz's, lets readers eavesdrop on snippets of the onboard conversation. When sweet, uncomplicated Sherman asks what's next for the goldfish-not if but when they succeed in finding him-Sadie responds by waxing eloquent on the proper care and feeding of those we love. She ends with a few choice words about Little Amy Scott, the cause of all their troubles, and let's just say: no happy-birthday wishes for her. "The Antlered Ship" aims for a dreamier, artier style of sea-faring fantasy. It features a splendid age-of-sail tall ship sporting an impressive antler-themed prow, and a surreal all-animal crew captained by a doe named Sylvia. In port, other creatures sign on as crewmembers, including some venturesome pigeons and a philosopher fox named Marco who is seeking answers to life's big questions, or rather to pretty big ones like, "Why don't trees ever talk?" and "Why is water so wet?" Oh dear-or perhaps, oh deer! As the ship and narrative drift in tandem, readers can only pray that Marco will not redirect his musings to more mundane matters, such as the odds of enjoying a pigeon repast. The illustrations by the brothers Terry and Eric Fan are breathtakingly good. The Fans have an exquisite command of atmosphere and the ability as draftsmen to conjure up a fully realized world-even when, as here, they're starting from a generically written prose text that loses its way in the intriguing scenario it first set in motion. More down to earth is "Robinson," a dream adventure propelled by a schoolchild's decision to attend a costume party dressed as his favorite storybook hero, Robinson Crusoe. Things go badly wrong when young Peter's schoolmates mercilessly mock the elaborate faux-fur costume his mother prepared for him. Surely it would have been better to go in standard-issue pirate gear, as Peter knew the others were all planning to do. Or not: with a gentle nudge from his mother, he opted instead to make a more personal statement, and is repaid for his efforts with a jolt of group rejection that leaves him feeling as alone as any shipwrecked traveler on a desert island. What began as a parent's well-meaning intervention in her child's social affairs morphs for Peter into a developmental flash point. Thrning feverish, the shaken boy escapes into a dream that in some respects mimics Crusoe's island exile (although happily not the part about Friday!). In this dream, Peter forages for food, makes his own clothing and shelter, and keeps an eye out for pesky pirates. Readers can see that on awakening Peter is more his own person than before, and is ready to re-connect on his own terms with school chums who, as children do, have also moved on and are keen for his company. Peter Sis, who grew up in Soviet-Bloc Czechoslovakia and has lived in the United States since 1982, has made a specialty of chronicling the lives of maverick outsiders from Galileo to Darwin. He first told bits and pieces of his own coming-of-age story in "The Wall," but the autobiographical "Robinson" is a more intimate, child's-eye view of a schoolboy's struggles to navigate the treacherous crosscurrents of self and society. It is hard not to feel for this child. In his illustrations for "Robinson," Sis reprises long-time favorite graphic maneuvers-arresting bird's eye perspectives, imaginary landscapes that double as maps of themselves-while also showing a new interest in color that mirrors the story's heightened emotional urgency. Growing up, these evocative images imply, can feel a lot like being lost at sea, but the imagination is a good map to steer by. LEONARDS. MARCUS'S most recent book is "Golden Legacy: The Story of Golden Books."
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-With comic urgency, a boy races on his bicycle to tell his friend Sadie the story of spoiled Little Amy Scott, who declared that her birthday goldfish was BORING and walked across town to unceremoniously throw it off the dock. The boy, Sherman, asks Sadie if she could imagine that poor fish, still in its bag and floating away, bringing the prologue to an end and spurring Sadie into action. She names the fish Ellsworth, plots a course, and gathers fishing gear, weather-appropriate clothes, a bucket of paint, and 21 pink balloons. A half-dozen monkeys join the kids on their journey as crewmen, adding to the zaniness established by the loose pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations. Readers will admire Sadie's unflappable, no-nonsense response to the dangers at sea, though this is just one of the many gloriously funny details. -VERDICT A contemporary tall tale fueled by the characters' genuine caring and heart. Best read one-on-one to feast on the clever cartoon artwork.-Joanna K. Fabicon, Los Angeles Public Library © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Stead and Cordell take their readers on a big adventure to save a tiny fish. A tall black boy named Sherman has big news to share with a pigtailed white girl named Sadie: bratty white birthday girl Amy Scott has decreed that goldfish are pass. Amy is so emphatic she's thrown her birthday goldfish, still in its baggie, into the sea. Sadie disagrees, and aided by a band of chicly-dressed monkeys, she and Sherman begin an adventure to rescue the abandoned goldfish. The combination of Sadie's steadfast confidence and Sherman's facial reactions drive the story to a celebratory conclusion that brings the entire town (and an ostrich) together. Stead's dialogue-only text is concise and dryly humorous, conveying both Sadie's calm determination and humorous quips. Cordell's artworka vigorously scratchy mixture of ink and watercolorbrings the characters to life. The presentation ranges from expansive details of sea life to quick sketches of action, but the focal point is always Sherman and his quiet fear as the adventure persists. Children will love examining each page to see the escapades of the monkey companions as they travel alongside the duo. The detailed artwork is better suited for lap-sit reads than large storytimes, and this may become a favorite part of the "getting ready for bed" ritual in many homes. Readers who are looking for more moxie in their lives will love this absurd adventure. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
