Blue Sea: A Delightful Picture Book About Fish and Sizes for Children

by Robert Kalan, Donald Crews (Illustrator)

Vivid art helps make this picture book a preschool story hour favorite. The art and simple text about fish in the sea help introduce comparison words. "On a deep-blue background, the words 'blue sea' appear, and then the first of Crews's eye-filling paintings. The author and illustrator of Rain have invented another winner." (Publishers Weekly) As a 5-star review puts "A delightful book to help the beginner/elementary reader learn simple comparative and superlative adjectives. 'Small,''Smaller,' 'Smallest,' and 'Big,' 'Bigger,' 'Biggest' are mentioned in this 21-page story that averages about 3-4 words per page. The text is large, and the visuals are simple, colorful, and uncluttered." Robert Kalan and Donald Crews are both masters of simple, compelling concept books. In addition to their collaboration on Blue Sea and Rain, each also has a number of other favorites to his name. Among the favorite Robert Kalan books is Jump, Frog, Jump! And favorite Donal Crews books

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Storytime, Childrens, Mathematics

24 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brightly colored fish illustrate big, bigger and biggest (and also the concept of apex predation).

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true Darwinian thriller with a high stakes chase.

[Dobby Girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! I like the simplicity of this book. Very easy and quick to read. This book is like treasure. I love this.

[NaKisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great way for my kids to learn size comparisons. They were engaged throughout the entire book and thought it was funny when the holes were too small for the larger fish to get through.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very simple graphics, very simple text. I thought it might be hard for the babies to follow the story and I'm not sure they did but they just stared at me through the whole thing! Outside of a little voice change for the size of the fish it seemed boring to me, but they were engrossed. Go figure. I used it for narrative skills and retold it with a flannelboard.

[Rakisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This spare book is bright, colorful, and fun. It is perfect for read-alouds for children 2 and up, who can get the humor of it. My daughters love it and I love looking at because the colors are so hypnotic.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read at Baby Lap Time on 2/22/12 and 2/23/12: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

Read at Baby/Toddler Story Time on 8/7/12: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loads of repetition about a little fish, big fish, bigger fish, and biggest fish as one tries to eat the other. In the chase, they pass through a small hole, then a smaller hole, and finally the smallest hole. This is a patterned story perfect for beginning ELLs.

[Belmont Storytime · Rating 5 out of 5]

great story with hardly any words.

[Ami Steel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn't to sure if I would like this one . Simple and sweet my boys loved it .

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple story with bright illustrations about different size fishes in the blue sea

[Brooke Newberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that introduces differences and many concepts in just a few short pages. Text is very minimal and the pictures are stark and contrast well. Great for baby storytimes.

[Megan B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Also perfect for emerging readers

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zoe LOVED this book and had me reading it over and over again resulting in her outpouring of laughter every time!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

very simple story. Good to teach kids about sizes.C really liked the fish saying ouch.

[Samir Kagadkar · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this classic yesterday, and it became an instant hit. It’s probably my two year old’s first introduction to the big-bigger-biggest style of superlatives. He reached into his own vocabulary and used “more big”. But quickly saw how bigger and biggest add more nuance. The fishies bumping their head on the small holes - Ouch! - was mildly upsetting, but he quickly realized they could just turn around and free themselves out of the hole.

We read it over and over again.
Swim little fishy!

[Cynthia June Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concept book: little/big/bigger/biggest; small/smaller/smallest.
They go from tiniest fish to largest and back down again into increasingly smaller holes that the larger fishes can't enter until it ends again with little fish.
ILLUSTRATED BY DONALD CREWS.
For a very young infant/toddler audience.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t very engaged in this book at all, however, the two first graders who were reading it couldn’t get enough. They asked to read it again and again.

[Vilma Diaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books was funny. It's a tale of the food chain, and the little guy surviving despite the odds.

[Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's amazing how something so simple can be so entertaining. I can see why this is a classic. In case it isn't, it should be!

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the blue sea there is a little fish. The reader follows the journey of that little fish as bigger, then bigger, fish follow. This is a fun, subtle lesson in colour, adding, subtracting, and humour.

[Magila · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Macy Morrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was very boring with very little word usage. It repeated words and the pictures were bland

[Lauren White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for grades prek-1

[Sara Lemonade · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simple book but lots of fun. I had daddy read it to me twice in a row.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorit books to give as a kids gift. Love it!!

[Ecl Storytellers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very simple. A story of size relationships.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great simple story about fish and sizes!

Good for toddler storytimes.

[Michelle Farella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carnivorous fish!