Review by Booklist Review
From the Everything Goes series, this large-format picture book follows a boy and his parents traveling by ferry. They watch the boats in the bustling harbor and observe many more during their crossing. Dialogue balloons, labels, and fact boxes carry the text. With a slender strand of story and plenty of information about many types of watercraft, this picture book straddles the thin line between fiction and nonfiction. The digital artwork features bold, beefy line drawings, bright with color and full of witty details for attentive kids to enjoy. Large illustrations show the whole, parts, and interiors of various vessels. Mesmerizing fare for young boat fans.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-In this third book in the series, a boy learns about boats and ocean travel as he and his parents ferry toward their vacation location. As they cross the water, the boy asks questions about the variety of ships they see. The colorful captions that appear on each spread contain answers about buoyancy, houseboats, submarines, container ships, and sailboats. Labels help identify the less familiar boats (ketch, sampan) and the parts of a ship (bridge, radar). Children can spend a lot of time looking for the humorous situations and the hidden numbers and birds in each scene. This book is not suitable as a read-aloud because there are too many word balloons and short conversations going on in the background, but youngsters who enjoy the busyness of Richard Scarry or "Where's Waldo?" books will pore over this oversize volume.-Tanya Boudreau, Cold Lake Public Library, AB, Canada (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Henry and his parents, the intrepid travelers from Everything Goes: On Land (rev. 11/11) and Everything Goes: In the Air (rev. 11/12), take to the water in this latest installment in Biggs's transportation-themed series. The three ride a car ferry to their island destination; along the way, they talk about the variety of boats they see in the harbor and on the open water. After a brief (and helpful) explanation of how buoyancy works, their speech-balloon conversation touches on different types of watercraft--container ships, submarines, aircraft carriers, human-powered boats, houseboats--and the jobs those vessels do. As in the previous volumes, some accessible history and a little science/engineering are part of the discussion. The pleasingly busy cartoon illustrations are packed with details and visual jokes, including some comedic bits from the earlier books, which should delight the series' frequent visitors. A two-page gatefold spread treats readers to a spectacular view from the ferry's top deck and features a comically impractical number of boats, ships, and creatures bobbing merrily along. Biggs navigates this nautical lesson with a steady hand. kitty flynn (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Biggs ferries young viewers past floating fleets in his latest set of bustling cartoon surveys. The voyage is sandwiched between sequences of big, wordless before and after panels. It begins when a vacationing family drives aboard a Center City ferry. After casting off, it navigates past themed gatherings of working boats and gigantic ships; craft of various sizes and historical periods driven by oars, motors or sails; houseboats and more. It docks in the wake of a climactic double gatefold in an entire harbor full of diverse vessels. Along the way, minidisquisitions on sails and propellers, cargo shipping, submarines, cruise ships and other nautical topics are delivered with plenty of sight gags and side business. Signal flags spell out "fish fry tonight," and a fishing boat dubbed Archimedes demonstrates buoyancy and displacement, for instance. Biggs adds cutaway views as well as labels, jokes ("How long do you think the trip will take?" "About fifty-six pages"), review questions and occasional selfies to his full but not overstuffed scenes. Another breezy sail past things that go. (Informational picture book. 4-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
