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First Impression: With the help of a little magical sparkle and a small community, this picture book shows an ocean rescue and beach clean-up in action.

Josie, Johnnie, and Rosie and the Ocean Rescue! book cover

I would like to thank the author, Michael Panzner, for reaching out to me to request an honest review in exchange for an ARC copy of his debut children’s picture book. The generosity of authors is one of the ways the community is supported in being able to bring readers fresh content for which I am humbly grateful. Now, about the book…

Children are never too young for books and never too young to learn. Some of the primary topics that plague society at the moment are environmental concerns. With his book, Josie, Johnnie, and Rosie and the Ocean Rescue!, Michael Panzner creates a lesson aimed at 3–7-year-olds about taking responsibility for their waste.

Rosie heads to the beach for a picnic with her twin unicorn friends, Josie and Johnnie. Whilst enjoying their time at the beach, they notice a family of fish struggling in the ocean. They were entangled in a discarded fisherman’s net and needed help to free themselves. As they freed the fish, the three friends caught sight of a larger problem. The ocean and beach are littered with rubbish and the water is murky. They set about cleaning up the area for others to enjoy in the future.

Thanks to Brooke Beaver, the book is beautifully illustrated with a range of illustrations. Some are full page spreads, whilst others are smaller with text woven between them. Neither dull, nor vibrant, the pictures use an appropriate color scheme to demonstrate predominantly beach scenes that include the three friends. Occasionally the scenes are purely scenic. I like how they took care to display expressions and actions as this is helpful for younger children who want to use the illustrations to form their own stories.

The children in the book appear to look the same age as the target audience. That is, they can be assumed to be around seven years of age. I also like that although the main character is ‘white’, as are the unicorns, there is a range of diversity in the other unnamed characters in the book. Readers are able to see themselves in the roles of responsible helpers. There is also a range of sea creatures and the seagull that extends conversation beyond the book to one about animals found in, and around, the ocean, making it a learning resource for parents to use.

For the most part, the story flows well. However, I would argue that some of the words could have been simpler to take into account the audience. For example, I would replace pledge with promise, preserve with save, and do away with idioms like fruits of their labor. These terms are quite complex for a three-year-old being read to, and also for the confident 7-year-old that may be reading alone at this point. I also think the title would have sounded better if it followed the ordering of the characters in the book. The story is about Rosie and her friends; therefore, it would make sense that her name was at the beginning of the trio. Throughout the book, they are referred to as Rosie, Josie and Johnnie, which has a much nicer ring to it and flows off the tongue more comfortably.

All things considered; the book is a strong 4 out of 5 stars. As it lends itself to being a potential series, one would hope that more care is taken over some of the phrasing in future books so that the audience is kept fully in mind and terms are easier to decipher for a universal readership. As debut children’s books go, this is a great contender that would be a welcome addition to a child’s bookshelf.

Quick Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ / G Rated

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