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PRESCHOOL
Dotlich, Rebecca Kai

Little Scoot

32 pp. | Boyds | April, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-1-63592-300-1 $17.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-63592-379-7 $10.99
(2) PS Illustrated by Edson Ikê. To the burgeoning shelf of small-but-mighty-vehicle stories, add this one starring plucky tugboat Little Scoot. Big Barge has run aground, and Little Scoot must head out to sea to rescue him as a thunderstorm approaches. Scared Little Scoot "wants to turn back, / but there's BIG work to do / SO... // ...she ­straightens her stack / and pushes right through." Poet Dotlich's sure hand with rhyme and meter carries readers through Little Scoot's adventure as the storm arrives, the swells get bigger, and pulling Big Barge out of the muck proves harder than expected. Page-turns are used effectively to add drama and suspense. Ikê's digital illustrations capture the watery setting and the growing danger from the storm as well as Little Scoot's changing emotions, from determination to ­trepidation to steely resolution to justifiable pride in her ­accomplishment. (Admirably, the art also avoids the markers--eyelashes, the color pink, etc.--typically used for female inanimate picture-book characters.) Pair this with Savage's Little Tug (rev. 11/12) and, more recently, Verdick's Small Walt Spots Dot.
Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

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