Review of The Sea Adventures Of Surf Gidget The Pug
Posted: 12 Dec 2023, 14:28
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Sea Adventures Of Surf Gidget The Pug" by Alecia Nelson.]
Do you ever think about how we can teach our children to be responsible for their trash and recycling when out in nature? Look no further! The Sea Adventures Of Surf Gidget The Pug by Alecia Nelson is a sweet, heartwarming children’s book sure to not only capture the attention and hearts of young children, but teach a valuable lesson as well.
An energetic and sweet pug named Gidget is excited to surf in the ocean. With her surf gear ready, she heads off for an exciting day. Unfortunately, she meets many of her friends who are tangled or uncomfortably dealing with some type of trash or recycling, which prevents these friends from moving and enjoying their day. Can Gidget the Pug help her friends to be free and safe once more?
There are so many things to love about this book. First, starting with the vibrant illustrations. The colors and the expressive character faces will easily capture the attention of young children. The illustrator is also able to capture the distress of the animals when caught up or tangled in a piece of trash, but without being too harsh. For example, when a sea creature is caught in netting, even though this sea creature was upset and struggling, it wasn’t disturbing or unfitting to view.
Second, the overall message and themes are truly endearing and realistic. Finding trash and recycled items at the beach, and in nature, is very realistic. It is sad, but true. To have a children’s book to assist kids in becoming aware of this ongoing issue is wonderful. It teaches them the effects of throwing a piece of garbage not in a trash can, and how distressing it can be to animals. Themes of kindness, friendship, and taking care of our oceans are big ones here. Gidget the Pug’s goal was to surf, but she would rather pause on what she is doing to help her friends and clean up the trash and recycling found, which teaches children to put others in need first rather than their own desires.
When thinking of ways to improve, there are a couple of small ways to do so in this book. One way would be to be conscious of when words are blended in with the illustrations, which makes it challenging to read. On page 4 (the word, “sleep”), on page 12 (the word, “friend”), and on page 10 (the word, “free”) are the three instances where I found the words blurred in with the illustrations. Another small area to improve is the use of shadowed words when Gidget the Pug went underwater to help Inky the Octopus, who was tangled up. The shadowed words on these four pages made the text seem blurry when it really wasn’t. In any case, it was harder to read than the rest of the book.
This sweet, colorful children’s book was made with care and thoughtfulness. It is one that would be a great introduction in taking care of our oceans and sea creatures. There were a few errors here, which means the book was edited well. Considering its positives and the areas of improvements previously shared, I rate The Sea Adventures Of Surf Gidget The Pug four out of five stars.
Kind and helpful Gidget the Pug will capture the hearts of many children. Therefore, I recommend parents and teachers to read this children’s book to youngsters who are in the preschool to lower elementary age group. It is also a useful book for a librarian to read during a preschool story time with the theme of taking care of our environment and animals.
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The Sea Adventures Of Surf Gidget The Pug
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Do you ever think about how we can teach our children to be responsible for their trash and recycling when out in nature? Look no further! The Sea Adventures Of Surf Gidget The Pug by Alecia Nelson is a sweet, heartwarming children’s book sure to not only capture the attention and hearts of young children, but teach a valuable lesson as well.
An energetic and sweet pug named Gidget is excited to surf in the ocean. With her surf gear ready, she heads off for an exciting day. Unfortunately, she meets many of her friends who are tangled or uncomfortably dealing with some type of trash or recycling, which prevents these friends from moving and enjoying their day. Can Gidget the Pug help her friends to be free and safe once more?
There are so many things to love about this book. First, starting with the vibrant illustrations. The colors and the expressive character faces will easily capture the attention of young children. The illustrator is also able to capture the distress of the animals when caught up or tangled in a piece of trash, but without being too harsh. For example, when a sea creature is caught in netting, even though this sea creature was upset and struggling, it wasn’t disturbing or unfitting to view.
Second, the overall message and themes are truly endearing and realistic. Finding trash and recycled items at the beach, and in nature, is very realistic. It is sad, but true. To have a children’s book to assist kids in becoming aware of this ongoing issue is wonderful. It teaches them the effects of throwing a piece of garbage not in a trash can, and how distressing it can be to animals. Themes of kindness, friendship, and taking care of our oceans are big ones here. Gidget the Pug’s goal was to surf, but she would rather pause on what she is doing to help her friends and clean up the trash and recycling found, which teaches children to put others in need first rather than their own desires.
When thinking of ways to improve, there are a couple of small ways to do so in this book. One way would be to be conscious of when words are blended in with the illustrations, which makes it challenging to read. On page 4 (the word, “sleep”), on page 12 (the word, “friend”), and on page 10 (the word, “free”) are the three instances where I found the words blurred in with the illustrations. Another small area to improve is the use of shadowed words when Gidget the Pug went underwater to help Inky the Octopus, who was tangled up. The shadowed words on these four pages made the text seem blurry when it really wasn’t. In any case, it was harder to read than the rest of the book.
This sweet, colorful children’s book was made with care and thoughtfulness. It is one that would be a great introduction in taking care of our oceans and sea creatures. There were a few errors here, which means the book was edited well. Considering its positives and the areas of improvements previously shared, I rate The Sea Adventures Of Surf Gidget The Pug four out of five stars.
Kind and helpful Gidget the Pug will capture the hearts of many children. Therefore, I recommend parents and teachers to read this children’s book to youngsters who are in the preschool to lower elementary age group. It is also a useful book for a librarian to read during a preschool story time with the theme of taking care of our environment and animals.
******
The Sea Adventures Of Surf Gidget The Pug
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon