Cute story that touches on friendship, the nature of fun, and some important marine environmental issues. It felt the the story was set up to push vocabulary too, although the dialog was written a bit too stilted.

This book would be great to use to introduce animal endangerment and all the struggles they could have. I liked how the characters in this book worked through the problems and weren’t self absorbed. Great model for kids.

2nd book in the series we have read. Reads well with pretty colourful illustrations which my 2 and 4 year old loved. Would read more of this series.

Instagram: @Raena_Reads

The clever title of Susan Marie Chapman's Two If by Sea attracted me in my NetGalley search for children's picture books, and the book does offer a lesson in human danger to ocean habitat appropriate for young children. The book is also easy reading; my first-grade granddaughter needed help with very few words (iguana, inventory, marina).

Although Natalia Loseva's illustrations are colorful, cute, and uncluttered, the font is too ornate for very young readers, making the book better read by an adult. Also, why the font changes color so frequently, I don't know. When I first noticed the word "inventory" in red, I thought, perhaps, more difficult words would appear in red as a signal that they were words a child might need to learn. This could have been a useful strategy. However, that quickly proved not to be the case as the sentence "This is going to be so much fun" and simple words like "boat" and "fish" also appeared in red, and the word "marina" appeared in green. Similarly, blue or red font on blue background is difficult to read. In at least one case, a single sentence switched between red, green, and blue font, seemingly for no reason. Perhaps someone thought the color changes would appeal to young children, but the child I had read the book found her eyes jumping between colors rather than focusing on reading the words in order as she otherwise easily does. The apostrophe in "high five'd" also bothered this retired English teacher. The correct past tense is "high fived" or "high-fived."

It appears that this book has already been published. However, if published in this format, I would strongly suggest changing the font to a simpler one, fully in black, and eliminating the superfluous apostrophe. With small changes, this could be a better, less distracting book for young children with an appropriate lesson.
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Thank you Canoe Tree Press and NetGalley for the advance digital reading copy of this book.

I love the watercolor illustrations, the colors are vibrant and fun!

I really like the fact that this book is focusing on the damage humans are causing animals in the sea using the perspective of the affected animals. I am glad that Grumpy and Green Parrot were able to help the turtle but that is not always the case. Hopefully, our children can do a much better job of taking care of the planet.

I was granted complimentary access to Two if by Sea by Susan Marie Chapman through the publisher, Canoe Tree Press, in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.

This story tries to teach kids about the dangers of polluting the world's oceans as the iguana and parrot characters go fishing only to find that the beautiful red fish they caught it actually a balloon, and all of the trash in the ocean is killing the fish. It's an important story, and the illustrations are beautifully colourful. This is now the second picture book by this author I'm reviewing tonight, and I must say the watercolour techniques used in this one far surpass the other I reviewed.

As with the other title I reviewed, I found the text itself very difficult to read. The font is very stylized, which is not friendly to readers with limited vision or certain learning disabilities, it constantly changes size and colour, and frequently contrasts poorly with the images or blank whiteness underneath it. The story itself, while it has an important message, is drawn out and boring.

This was a cute story. But the art style and typography choices didn’t lend themselves to the plot, so overall it fell a little flat.

I read this book with my daughter tonight and she really enjoyed it.

She liked that the Turtle was rescued and they could get him the help he needed, but she did ask what had happened and I told her it was likely that he had been hit by a boat and that is why he needed help.

She was also concerned about the rubbish in the sea, we do our bit to recycle and she is very keen to help where she can as she can see the benefit of this. I would recommend this book to other parents to read with their children too and to show how they can help protect the environment to save it for younger generations.,

It is 4 stars from me for this one - highly recommended!

This was terrible. I appreciated that the author was trying to highlight the negative impacts humans have on sea life (plastic pollution, boating accidents) but the story was stiff and awkward. It didn't flow, it lacked humour and it was terribly boring and un-engaging. There are so many stories that bring this topic to life for children and that's why I'd give this one a pass.

This is a cute story about Grumpy the Iguana and his friend Green Parrot, who go fishing and catch a red balloon. They are glad they found it, since they know it is not good for it to be in the sea incase it hurts the sea creatures.. They find a new friend who helps them to get back home after they get lost. This is a good book with bright, colourful images and fun characters, which my daughter and I enjoyed.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Well, this is a great & visually fun story about how boat trips can be relaxing & fun but also explores the idea humans sometimes do careless things that harm the environment.
It also reminds us how we can work together & use kindness plus friendship & achieve great results.

We loved the illustrations by Natalia Loseva - the bright, bold characters & scenery really bring a bright, fresh feeling to the story.

Grumpy the Iguana & Green Parrot planned their trip & were all organised but they weren't expecting to find something in the ocean that shouldn't be there. What could it be?
Did they catch any fish? You'll have to read this story to find out!

Their journey home didn't quite go to plan either, but they did meet a new friend - a Giant Sea Turtle. Follow their adventure & laugh along with them at the cheery ending!

One of a series. Check them out!

I love Grumpy the Iguana and his friends. In this one, Grumpy and his friend Green Parrot go fishing and only catch a red balloon. They realize that it is bad for the ocean, so they are glad they catch it. They also get lost at sea and find a new friend to guide them home, who they end up helping in return.

Another cute little story in this series!
Nicely written that would appeal to younger school age children, with pretty colourful illustrations too.

This book is a lovely story of friendship and kindness while also advising on protecting the environment and our seas.
It is well written and the illustrations are lovely.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

While the text is a bit preachy, the message of protecting the ocean/environment is clear. This would be a good book for a classroom unit that shows the effects of careless human interaction with the environment, especially as it relates to how our actions impact animal life.