Off to See the Sea

Nikki Grimes and Elizabeth Zunon, the pair who created Bedtime for Sweet Creatures, are back with a picture book that will become a bath time reading favorite for many families. The pages take us through an imaginative, active bath time: “I switch on the faucet and out flows a roaring waterfall.” Grimes, an award winner many times over, writes with her usual poetic cadence, speaking to the child in the book (and out of it) in words that are lively and evocative.

Zunon’s art has a tactility that makes you want to run your fingers over the pages. The family she creates is loving and warm, and the bath time as she paints it is truly an adventure. The bright colors and mix of media work well with Grimes’ bath poem, the two working together the way the elements in the best picture books do.

From the first splash to toweling off when “you wiggle, making extra sure you’re more slippery than an eel,” the reader is guided through a cozy evening ritual, each step sure to be echoed by the families enjoying the story. The only thing that would have made this story better would be having a plastic-paged version—to be read in the bath, of course!