Walrus Song

October 1, 2021
A walrus's life is filled with ice and ocean and sound. Lilting rhyming verse follows a walrus's actions in his icy home. He plays on an ice floe, dives deep into the frigid water, seeks and finds food, and playfully shoos away a pesky puffin. Lawler vividly describes the walrus as he "waddles" and "lumbers" on the ice and twirls and whirls in the sea, keeping warm thanks to his massive layers of fat. He joins a huge pack of his cronies to snuggle and nuzzle. All is not always peaceful and calm; he engages in a mighty, crashing, tusk-bashing fight with another walrus. Fight over, he lets out with a variety of delightfully spelled calls and songs that echo throughout the area and will encourage young readers to try echoing those sounds themselves. Lawler keeps the tone light and fun while imparting a great deal of information about a walrus's physicality, habitats, and food sources. No explanation is given within the text for the fight or the calls, or for the appearance of babies born in the spring, but answers and additional information on all things walrus are provided in an afterword. Ering's brilliant, luminous, lifelike paintings capture their subject close-up and in great detail, accurately depicting his every movement and mood and perfectly capturing the setting in icy whites and deep-sea blues and greens under a purple-gray sky. These fascinating creatures will entrance little readers and their grown-ups. (Informational picture book. 4-8)

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Starred review from December 1, 2021

PreS-Gr 2-Walruses have never looked more adorable. Lawler's spare text and Ering's vibrant illustrations, rendered in charcoal and acrylic paint on paper, effortlessly introduce the lovable mammal. This picture book accessibly presents information on habitat, physical features, and diet; unfamiliar vocabulary is seamlessly worked in. The lyrical and rhythmic narrative will engage readers, and the spreads on walrus songs will invite kids to imitate with gusto. This would be a prime candidate for preschool story time; the full package is begging to be read aloud. Accompanied by walrus recordings, this would be such an enriching experience in any read-aloud setting. Back matter consists of detailed explanations of walrus behavior. VERDICT Purchase for story time and STEM shelves.-Nancy Call, formerly at Santa Cruz P.L., Aptos, CA

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2021
Preschool-Grade 2 Where is Walrus? / On a floe. / He flops. / He plops. / Where did he go?"" Lawler's poetic nod to these Arctic sea mammals focuses on behaviors rather than facts and figures. Walrus twirls and whirls in his ""fat-lined coat""; later he teases a puffin and hauls himself out onto the ice; he spars with other males and emits a host of sounds; and finally, after babies are born, he returns to the ocean. Lawler's lilting text offers just enough information to pique readers' interests, leaving Ering's naturalistic, charcoal-and-acrylic seascapes to fill in the particulars. Blue-green underwater backgrounds draw attention to this enormous brown pinniped as he stirs up the ocean floor hunting for clams. Other spreads depict gray skies and gleaming white ice contrasted with Walrus as he lumbers over the ice to meet his herd. Close-ups of his bristly snout, enormous tusks, and wrinkly skin are also impressive. Appended with walrus facts that reference specific spreads, this will please a range of audiences, from squirmy toddlers enticed by the rhymes to would-be marine biologists.

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