Sealed with a Kiss by Beth Ferry, Olivier Tallec
Published by HarperCollins on January 8th 2019
ISBN: 0062475770
Pages: 32
Goodreads

How do you make new friends? Do you go out and introduce yourself or do you wait for them to welcome you to your new home? Seal’s feelings are crushed when she tries to say hello but is rejected by the animals already living at her new zoo home. “Zey zink I stink!” she laments in her French voice. They finally realize their mistake and write a poem to apologize, offering a peppermint shrimp so her breath won’t stink.

Full-color cartoonish illustrations have some background details but mostly white to keep the reader’s attention on the animals and action. Many of the animals have the same oblong odd shape but are distinguishable by the markings and colorings.

This book could be used as an introduction to homonyms, rhyming, alliteration, color words to describe feelings, making apologies, making new friends, zoos, and a discussion on whether it’s a good idea to grab and kiss a stranger. In this case, the seal was only doing what was culturally appropriate for her, and given it’s her new home and she’s trying to introduce herself and make new friends would add to the conversation. Perhaps a more important discussion about this story is how we react when meeting someone new and they have very different customs and appearances AND smells!

Reviewed by Lynn Mayer, Old Town Elementary School, Old Town