Found (Nature Quartet)

Found is a fantastical adventure between a boy and his grandpa going to the beach. The extra-large size of the picture book allowed for the story to move quickly with multiple snapshot illustrations per page and for there to be an element of exaggeration in the size of some of their accomplishments. They had an adventure on the high seas where they saved a baby seal, ended up on a boat, through a storm, and found the exact location of the seal’s family before swimming with them all in the water. While this story is a fun adventure demonstrating the strong bond between the boy and his grandpa, I kept questioning whether it was a good idea to present the seal rescue as something they handled on their own. I wouldn’t want an impressionable young reader one day to find themselves with wildlife thinking they can handle a situation that could precipitate a tragedy for that life because they enjoyed a story like this and did not understand how fictional this scenario was. As a work of fiction, it was a fun romp but I think it warrants a discussion too on what to do in real life.