Review by Booklist Review
The eight adventurous Octonauts, ranging from a brainy octopus to a turnip, live under the sea in an Octopod. After discovering that all undersea shadows have disappeared, four of them travel to the Shade Castle in the Sea of Shade to discover what is causing this disturbance! Meomi's computerized graphics demostrate a strong influence of Japanese anime, and her critters will remind kids of Pokemon and Hello Kitty. The plot is somewhat lackluster, and Meomi provides little in the way of characterization. The Octonauts lack defining expression, and there's not much body language. Nor is much said about them in the text. They are rather like toys precisely placed in the story's settings. It's the myriad fanciful details in the intricate undersea illustrations that will attract kids, who may also have a bit of fun with the text's scientific-sounding language ( Using the cartographic bathymetry to calculate the compasserific co-ordinates . . . ). Give this to children who seem interested in anime, but aren't ready for more sophisticated materials.--Enos, Randall Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
The Octonauts, a team of animal underwater explorers, journey to the Sea of Shade to find the world's missing shadows. The text is pedantic: "Everyone is so sad without any shade. We've learned how important shadows are. Please let them come back, your Highness!" Cutesy illustrations reminiscent of J. Otto Siebold's work also owe a debt to Japanese anime. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
