One Lonely Sea Horse [Hardcover]

Joost Elffers (Author), Saxton Freymann (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up

Fantastic food sculptures tell the tale of a lonely seahorse whose friends arrive in progessively larger groups, proving with humor and flair that they can be counted on!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Fruits and vegetables speak louder than words, and Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers (Play with Your Food, How Are You Peeling?) sure know how to tell a tale with produce. Bea--a lonely sea horse made out of Chioggia beets--is the star of this extraordinary counting book. (We know she's made of beets because the endpapers identify all the produce used in the lovely underwater seascapes--from cantaloupes to enoki mushrooms.) We know Bea is lonely, too, because sea horses just don't get any lonelier than this:

Beneath the ocean, deep and wide,
One lonely, drifting sea horse cried,
"In all the cold and salty sea
I'm all alone--there's only me."

Fortunately, other sea creatures are eager to befriend her--two small mushroom crabs, three horned melon puffer fish, four ginger lobsters (we never knew fresh ginger looked exactly like lobsters), five pineapple turtles, six banana dolphins, seven cranberry-bean eels, eight banana-peel octopi, nine Asian eggplant mackerel, and ten bell-pepper angelfish. By the end of the book, Bea is surrounded by her colorful new friends in a glorious undersea cornucopia: "'You are my friends,' said Bea, 'that's true, / And I can always count on you!'" We can honestly say there is not a child or adult alive who could resist the charms of this visually breathtaking book, carefully composed and crisply photographed. Chefs, marine biologists, kids, rejoice! One Lonely Sea Horse is a fabulous tribute to food, figures, photography, and friendship. (Toddler to adult) --Karin Snelson

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3-Although there is nothing innovative about the story, this counting book from the creators of How Are You Peeling? (Scholastic, 1999) is worth a second look. As a solitary sea horse ("Her name was Bea, and Bea was blue/And as she cried her sadness grew") moves through the ocean, she meets two small crabs, three puffer fish, and so on, until she finds herself surrounded by a variety of new underwater friends. The rhyming text is mediocre; however, the illustrations, created out of fruits and vegetables, are amazing. Red and yellow peppers, placed at just the right angle and embellished with eyes, magically become a school of angelfish. Lobsters made from ginger rest on mushrooms that look like the ocean floor, while turtles with pineapple shells swim nearby. Bananas with their tops cut open to resemble snouts make a convincing group of dolphins that dive around a coral constructed out of unshelled fava beans. Each turn of the page reveals a cleverly conceived and executed scene that evokes a remarkably realistic underwater moment. All of the edibles are identified on the back endpapers. Aside from being fun to look at, this imaginative book would make a great jumping-off point for art projects or even a unit on food.
Joy Fleishhacker, formerly at School Library Journal
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 28 pages
• Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439110149
• ISBN-13: 978-0439110143
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #476,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, Educational and Edible!, March 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: One Lonely Sea Horse (Hardcover)

One Lonely Sea Horse carries a simple message of friendship in an intriguing manner that captures the imagination of even the youngest readers while still entertaining and educating the older child.

The use of various vegetables for the illustrations is a fun technique, very well done in this vividly illustrated story of the lonely little sea horse at the ocean floor.

The older child (and parents, too) will enjoy trying to name the different types of food that make up the illustrations, with some pleasantly simple surprises in some of the sea animals.

One Lonely Little Sea Horse is an entertaining, educational book that children and parents will love to read again and again.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Visual Feast, December 7, 2000

By 

Roz Levine - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Lonely Sea Horse (Hardcover)

Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers have been playing with their food again and luckily for us, have come up with a delightful little counting and rhyming story about a lonely little sea horse. As you turn each page, she encounters first two crabs, then three puffer fish, four lobsters, five turtles and on and on until we reach a school of ten angelfish. But what makes this book so unusual, special and unique are the creative, bold and colorful illustrations. Each sea creature, including the undersea backgrounds are constructed of fruits and vegetables. Those two little friendly crabs are really shitake mushrooms. The puffer fish, horned melons, the lobsters, ginger, the turtles, pineapples, the angelfish, red and yellow peppers and the little sea horse herself, chioggia beets. All foods used are pictured and labeled on the last page and you and your children will have additional fun finding all the imaginative ways they've been used. This is a charming picture book all pre-schoolers will love and a visual feast for the eyes. Very highly recommended, you can't go wrong with this book.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Joyful! For infants through young readers, June 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: One Lonely Sea Horse (Hardcover)

Superb photos and a fun story ("Seven eels said, 'What a shock you're so unhappy. We should talk.'" ). It's one of those rare books that babies and toddlers will love (simple text, bright pictures) as well as young readers (who'll be captivated by the photos of fruits and vegetables turned into sea creatures).