Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-Forced rhymes and a didactic text bog down this cautionary story. Sterling the Seal, a stuffed animal, lectures children about safety issues such as the dangers of accepting gifts or rides from strangers and perils lurking in the great outdoors. While the issues are real and the lessons valuable, the singsong rhythm and cutesy refrain ("Would you tell me please, and it won't make you sneeze-?") annoy rather than edify. Children are asked about how they would respond to situations in which their safety could be compromised. They are asked to consider how they would handle diving into an unfamiliar lake or what they would do if their house caught on fire in the middle of the night. Donato's illustrations are colorful and evocative, but the figures are awkwardly drawn. Although they don't cover as many at-risk situations, Marc Brown's Dinosaurs, Beware! (Little, Brown, 1984), Stan and Jan Berenstain's The Berenstain Bears Learn about Strangers (Random, 1985), and Peggy Rathmann's Officer Buckle and Gloria (Putnam, 1995) represent stories that children can enjoy with humor that lightens the serious messages.-Alice Casey Smith, Sayreville Public Schools, Parlin, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
