Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Rhyming questions are answered with the triumphant titular cry in a work that displays the pelican's power and balletic grace. "Who can see it's time to eat?" Yuly begins, as two pelican adults and a hungry nestling are seen in silhouette against long, torn-paper strips of tangerine and lavender. A page turn later--"The pelican can! The pelican can!"--an ink-stroked adults swoops from the nest toward the water. The bird pulls itself across the next spread ("Who can soar down close to the shore?"), peers from above ("Who can spy small fish with their eye?"), and plunges into the water, its wings tucked close. Big red letters mark the moment of impact: "SPLASH!" As the sun sets, new spreads show the return of the adult, its pouch full, and the young pelican's now relaxed body, ready to sleep. Via this closely observed day-in-the-life tale, the pelican's natural behavior supplies all the visual drama the story needs. Ages 4--8. (May)
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Review by Horn Book Review
Yuly's well-designed picture book presents a series of playful rhyming questions ("Who can soar down close to the shore?" "Who can fly up high in the sky?") followed by the refrain, "The pelican can! The pelican can!" While young listeners and emerging readers will enjoy the predictability of the interactive format, Yuly delivers plenty of page-turning visual drama. She sets pelicans -- sometimes rendered in thick black outlines, other times in solid silhouettes -- against striking torn-paper seascapes as they travel from nest, to sea, and back to nest again. With each question-and-answer couplet, shifting color palettes depict the peaceful blue-black nighttime that bookends the story, the splendor of sunrise and sunset, and the bright daylight in between. Artfully placed text mimics the pelicans' path as they fly, dive, "SPLASH!," and scoop, enhancing the book's visual delight and the appeal of decoding words and images as readers follow the pelicans from page to page. Sure, "The pelican can! The pelican can!" And the viewer can, too. Shelley IsaacsonMay/June 2024 p.130 (c) Copyright 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
What can pelicans do? As this lively picture book shows, this large-billed bird with an oversized pouch can do quite a lot, especially when there's a hungry mouth to feed back at home. As our protagonist soars through the air, it pays careful attention to marine life swimming below, diving from the sky to "scoop a delicious fish soup." Naturally, some of this catch ends up being shared with its mate and its chick upon its return to the nest. Repetitive, rhyming, call-and-response-style text makes this one a sure bet for the younger set. "Who can fly up in the sky?" "Who can spy small fish with their eye?" "Who can dive down so fast?" Each time, the answer is an enthusiastic "The pelican can! The pelican can!" Though some might have wished for backmatter with more information about pelicans, it's a small point. Yuly's torn-paper, ink, and digital-media artwork is the standout here. Each page is saturated with blues, pinks, or purples. On some pages, the pelican is silhouetted in black, while on others, it's rendered with just a few strokes of black ink. Yuly imbues her subject with verve and energy; readers will be just as eager to see the results of the pelican's flight as the birds waiting back home in the nest. Will prompt well-deserved appreciation for this unique bird. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
