cover image Boats Float!

Boats Float!

George Ella Lyon and Benn Lyon, illus. by Mick Wiggins. S&S/Atheneum/Jackson, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4814-0380-1

George Ella Lyon teams up with her son Benn in this follow-up to Planes Fly! (2013), once again working with Wiggins. From grand ocean liners to boats “so short that fore is almost aft,” the Lyons highlight a wide variety of watercrafts while introducing nautical lingo (“A lookout’s on the poop deck./ Controls are on the bridge./ The bathroom’s called the head./ The galley holds the fridge”). Wiggins’s majestic seascapes are postcard-perfect and dashed with hints of humor (a certain butcher, baker, and candlestick maker have a cameo), leaving readers with the sense that floatation is just as miraculous as flight. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Sept.)