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When Mrs. Seahorse lays her eggs, she does it on Mr. Seahorse's belly! She knows he will take good care of them. While he swims waiting for the eggs to hatch, he meets some other underwater fathers caring for their babies: Mr. Tilapia, who carries his babies in his mouth; Mr. Kurtus, who keeps his on his head; and Mr. Catfish, who is baby-sitting his young hatchlings. Eric Carle has done it again, with astonishingly beautiful collage illustrations and a story that introduces the very young to the wonders of aquatic life . . . and some very special daddies. A "hide and seek" feature with acetate overlays adds a colorful surprise.
Age Range: 2 - 5 years
Lexile Measure: AD620L (What's this?)
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Philomel Books; First Edition edition (April 26, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399242694
ISBN-13: 978-0399242694
Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 0.4 x 12.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (144 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #30,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #59 in Books > Children's Books > Animals > Fish #85 in Books > Children's Books > Animals > Marine Life #177 in Books > Children's Books > Growing Up & Facts of Life > Family Life > Parents
I think I am right in saying that Eric Carle is the most popular children's picture book artist living today that eschews the universal convention of facial expressions. Not every illustrator in the world could get away with it. Carle has sort of established a whole new placid unemotional genre all on his own. Consider, if you will, "The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar" who shows one brief moment of bellyache related pain before bursting from his cocoon to become a beautiful unexpressive butterfly. For my own part, this disregard of facial expressions is hard to get through. In one of his latest offerings, "Mister Seahorse", Carle tackles the weighty subject of a father's responsibility to his kin. Since I like this book more than some of Carle's others, I suggest you take the hero's nonplussed attitude as merely a realistic representation of real seahorses in the wild.One day, Mrs. Seahorse becomes preggers. As is the seahorse custom, she promptly deposits her eggs in Mr. Seahorse's pouch. With the eggs safely ensconced there, Mr. Seahorse goes about his daily rounds. While out, he comes across Mr. Stickleback, Mr. Tilapia, Mr. Kurtus, Mr. Pipe, and Mr. Bullhead. Each fish has his own distinct way of caring for his born and unborn young. For example, Mr. Bullhead baby-sits (admittedly, Carle could have used a better term for this) his newborn hatchlings while Mr. Tilapia carries his young's eggs around in his mouth. Kids reading this book with their parents have the added pleasure of watching Mr. Seahorse as he approaches single fishies hiding in seaweed, behind coral reefs, and in small patches of reeds. In these scenes the page becomes translucent plastic, the reeds, reefs, and seaweed a beautifully painted scene overlaying the action. In the end, Mr.
Like all Eric Carle books it's a beautifuly colored and in his signature style. It features different hidden characters behind acetate.What make this particularly interesting is that it's all about marine life where the males handle the eggs and not the females.I found that wonderfully educational to show my kids different sea creatures where the dads carry around the eggs in many many different ways. In their mouths, on their bellies, in pouches etc. until they hatch. I was surprized and loved to see and explain that!It's a simple concept, whereby if a mom sea creature were to be introduced it would not only physically complicate the illustrated pages, it would also distract from the simplicity of the storyline.So where are the moms? Does it matter? There's references galore as to how happy the Mrs. must be. This book doesn't suggest single parenting, alternative lifestyles, or anything other than the simple reckognition of marine species caring for their offspring completely different than animals and people and illustrating the differences to children in a simple and eye opening way. It's a "well what do you know"! "Look at how that one does that"! for preschoolers. Simple concepts.4 stars for refering to one sea creatures particular parental duty as "babysitting" not parenting...BUT on a very simple note, just tell your child as I did, "oops, that should be parenting and not babysitting because parents can't babysit their own kids, that's their job" NO BIG DEAL. It's pretty darn easy to use some parental wisdom to make that correction. It brings up 2 more lessons. Nobody is perfect and everything that's in print isn't neccesarily the truth (well, an older kids lesson). Eric Carle is an older gentleman.
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