Oona
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
This comical and heartfelt picture book is a winning celebration of invention, creativity, and friendship. With gorgeous underwater scenes and a crowd-pleasing tale, this is one little mermaid who is here to make a splash!
New York Times bestselling author Kelly DiPucchio and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner Raissa Figueroa would like to introduce Oona—the big wide sea’s littlest mischief-maker.
Oona and her best friend Otto love to search for treasure…and often find trouble instead.
Messy trouble.
Tricky trouble.
Even shark-related trouble.
That’s never stopped them before, though!
After all, no proper treasure hunt is without some adventure. But when the grandest treasure yet is stuck in a deep, dark rift, Oona’s not sure if she can dive right in. What might be waiting for her in those unknown waters?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Oona is a little mermaid who's the very definition of intrepid. She loves to hunt for deep sea treasure (which readers will recognize as humans' lost and discarded items) with her sidekick, Otto the otter; in one funny scene, they chill on the ocean floor wearing chic human sunglasses that they've scavenged cat eyes for Oona, aviators for Otto. But the big prize that Oona is after is an "extra sparkly" crown she's spotted, wedged into a corner of the ocean. Does she have the patience and ingenuity to extract it? Despite DiPucchio's (Grace Goes to Washington) concise and sprightly text, the storytelling loses some of its drive as Oona's quest encounters requisite setbacks, and the life lesson wrap-up ("Because sometimes the best treasure in the world isn't found. It's made") feels unnecessary. But the digital illustrations by Figueroa (Sophie and Little Star) are a true wonder of the deep, with compositions worthy of full-length animated features, and a palette of radiant, translucent greens, blues, and magentas. Brown-skinned Oona, who wears a magnificent Afro studded with bioluminescent wisps, floats through the ocean exuding the kind of upbeat confidence that should have readers asking for more. Ages 4 8.
