The Seven Seas. Ellen Jackson. Illustrated by Bill Slavin & Esperança Melo. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young People, 2011. 36 pp., hardcover, $15.99 (US). ISBN 978-0-8028-5341-7. Subject Headings: Stories in rhyme. Seas-Fiction. Geography-Fiction. Imagination-Fiction. Color-Fiction. Preschool-grade 2 / Ages 4-7. Review by Ellen Heaney. ***/4

Well-known for his work with Linda Bailey on the �Good Times Travel Agency� series and several stories about Stanley, the adventuresome dog, Ontario artist Bill Slavin collaborates here with wife Esperança Melo to illustrate another kind of journey of the imagination.

     Ellen Jackson�s simple rhyming text takes its protagonist, a rabbit bored by a long and tedious geography lesson, on a fabulous journey across the seven seas. Some are real (but not really):

The Red Sea looks like pizza sauce �
A little or a lottle.
The roosters dine on ladybugs
With ketchup from a bottle.

     some totally imaginary:

The Pink Sea has flamingos
and cotton candy clouds,
and row and rows of sunburned toes
on sandal-wearing crowds.

     At the end of this recitation, the noise of the roll-down map being furled in the classroom brings the main character back to reality. The last line takes readers from the exaggerations of the rabbit�s daydreaming to a rather heavy-handed attempt at pedagogy:

Yes I have seen the seven seas,
I�ve checked them off my list.
Can you surmise which ones are lies,
and which of them exist?

     The last two spreads include a map of the world showing its seas and oceans, followed by a quiz and a page of �Fun Facts�.

     Jackson has written a number of other books released by different publishers and has been favorably reviewed in major library journals. However, it is the pictures that carry this one. The rabbit uses a variety of modes of transportation to get around the globe and thence to explore his new surroundings. I especially liked the picture of the Yellow Sea in which the rabbit is floating in hollowed-out lemon rind and drinking from the water (or lemonade) through a straw. Lemon fish jump through the air, and lemon-slice parasols dot the lemon peel beach.

     A humorous outing with a little lesson at the end. Recommended for school and public libraries.

Recommended.

Ellen Heaney is Head of Children�s Services at the New Westminster Public Library, New Westminster, BC.

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