Review: Like the Sea and The Sky
Like the Sea and the Sky: A Mysterious Mollusk and Its Magical Blue Ink by Jordan Namerow, illustrated by Michelle Simpson Brandylane Publishers, 2023 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Doreen Klein Robinson Buy at Bookshop.org We first meet Zinni while under the warmth and comfort of her mom’s tallit, with its dangling fringes that remind her of the arms of jellyfish. While her mom, a rabbi, offers a morning prayer of thanks, Zinni daydreams about the her favorite sea creatures – the mollusks that hide inside beautiful shells. When Zinni misses the school bus, we learn that she mixes up letters and numbers and is afraid to ask for help. Zinni’s mom shares that sometimes being a rabbi feels scary, too. This makes Zinni feel better, until she gets teased at recess for drawing sea creatures in her notebook. On the bus ride home, Zinni wishes she could be one of the sea creatures that squirts colorful clouds of ink to scare away its predators. At home, Zinni’s mom tells her about an ancien...