Jules vs. the Ocean
By:
Jules is going to build the biggest, the fanciest, and the most excellent sandcastle. Her sister will be so impressed. But the ocean has other plans. Jules keeps building bigger, fancier, and more excellent castles, and waves keep smashing them. And when the ocean takes her bucket, that is the final straw. Jules is going to take a stand!
From beloved storyteller Jessie Sima comes the tongue-in-cheek story of the sand, the sea, and sisterhood—told with her signature warmth, timeless humor, and delightfully playful illustrations.
Full-color illustrations were rendered in Photoshop.
ISBN: 9781534441682
JLG Release: Oct 2020
Sensitive Areas:
None
Topics:
Sandcastles , Ocean , Beaches , Sisters , Family life
Praise & Reviews
Starred or favorable reviews have been received from these periodicals:
School Library Journal, The Horn Book Magazine
School Library Journal
Sima revels in a Miami-inspired palette full of tans, pinks, and turquoise in this ode to sisterhood and the beach. Jules, who has brown hair and a sharp bob, yearns to build a “most excellent” sandcastle, one to catch the eye of her bodyboarding older sister, but the waves keep destroying her creations. The text conveys Jules’s frustration, Sima revels in a Miami-inspired palette full of tans, pinks, and turquoise in this ode to sisterhood and the beach. Jules, who has brown hair and a sharp bob, yearns to build a “most excellent” sandcastle, one to catch the eye of her bodyboarding older sister, but the waves keep destroying her creations. The text conveys Jules’s frustration, but the illustrations do not render the ocean a particularly dynamic nemesis. Sima relegates the frothy water to the edges of her beachy scenes, refocusing the central tension from a tussle between Jules and the ocean to the girl’s battle with her own expectations. Some readers may find Jules’s aggravation misplaced—why not build further away from the surf?—but others will sympathize with her determination and desire to impress her sister. Near the end, the siblings join forces to celebrate the power of the ocean, and a verbal refrain from the beginning returns, which makes the subsequent six pages feel slack and unnecessary, notwithstanding the beauty of Sima’s beachy sunset. Sima’s visual style radiates her usual appeal, but a lack of focus in both text and illustrations threatens to wash this story out.
Horn Book
Intent on impressing her older sister at the beach, Jules plans to build a big sandcastle. When the waves foil her plans, she assumes "the Ocean" is "out to get her." There's much humor, such as in the way Jules defiantly stares down her nemesis, saying, "Not today, Ocean." Expect giggles when she loses her bucket to the waves, dejectedly collapses Intent on impressing her older sister at the beach, Jules plans to build a big sandcastle. When the waves foil her plans, she assumes "the Ocean" is "out to get her." There's much humor, such as in the way Jules defiantly stares down her nemesis, saying, "Not today, Ocean." Expect giggles when she loses her bucket to the waves, dejectedly collapses on the sand, and determines there's "no hope." After her sister comes in from the waves and puts down her boogie board to tell Jules the ocean isn't her enemy, they work together. Here, the book's sunny, bright full-bleed spreads are juxtaposed with ones featuring small vignettes of the girls binding, constructing a splendid sandcastle as a team; this pacing change builds the drama at the story's close when a massive wave destroys their co-creation. In the triumphant double-page spread that follows, though, they engage in an exuberant high five (after a brief moment of shock), having enjoyed the spectacle of it all. Sound effects are used to dramatic effect, as the ocean waves meet the shore: "SPLASH!" "SLAP!" "CRASH!" The cheerful palette is the star of the show, with its bright pinks 9swimsuits, bucket, and beach towels), blues (ocean, sky), and vivid yellows (sun). A funny , felicitious summer read.
Book Details
ISBN
9781534441682
First Release
October 2020
Genre
Fic
Dewey Classification
E
Trim Size
10" x 8 1/2"
Page Count
48
Accelerated Reader
Level 1.8; Points: 0.5;
Scholastic Reading Counts
N/ALexile
N/AFormat
Print Book
Edition
Hardcover edition
Publisher
Simon & Schuster BFYR
Potentially Sensitive Areas
None
Topics
Sandcastles, Ocean, Beaches, Sisters, Family life,
