Monday, September 26, 2011

BLOG TOUR STOP: Little Wonders, Big Dreams

Little Wonders, Big Dreams
September 25, 2011

Stanley Seagull - Review
by Monique


Come meet Stanley Seagull as he wanders far from home and learns how we humans affect nature as he tries to find his way home again. Along the way he also learns a valuable lesson about greed and gluttony.

I was given the chance to review this fabulous book by Cathy Mazur and was honoured to be picked to be part of the Blog Tour being hosted by Tribute Books this month highlighting Stanley and his travels.

Stanley Seagull is a fabulous children's book to show how our trash and overuse affects the world around us and the very basic parts of nature. Stanley is a young curious seagull that loves where he lives on the coast of the Atlantic ocean. He spends his days dining on fish, grubs and scraps of food left on the beach by beach goers. Life is good, there was plenty of food to eat, he could fly over the beautiful glassy ocean and breath in the salty air.

One day the gulls spot big green trucks along the pier full of good looking garbage to eat, it was a food fest and Stanley couldn't wait to join in for the first time. The curious young Stanley follows his cousin Seymour and finds more food that he could ever eat! He starts devouring everything he can but doesn't understand why all the other gulls have left. Poor Stanley is stuck in the truck and transported to a new dark place nowhere near the sea, he is now lost miles from the coast in a landfill. The determined and curious Stanley with the help of his new landfill friend Walter hatch a plan to get Stanley home again unlike many other gulls Walter had met before. At last Stanley makes it home to the ocean and is happy to be home in his simple coastal life.

Though a simple and short story the story of Stanley highlights the overuse and trash we produce and how it affects even the seagulls. The fear and panic Stanley feels once he is in a new place nowhere near his home, and the sad story from Walter how many gulls never make it home again bring home how much we change the balance of nature. This wonderful story is accented perfectly with amazing illustrations done by Colleen Gedrich. This is a very cute book and would be a great story to accent your Earth Day and Recycling units or just to read as a group.

You can pick up a copy of Stanley Seagull in Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle, Nook and iPad formats.

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