*Picture book for preschooler through second graders (fantasy–talking animals
*Young jellyfish as main character
*Rating: Super cute illustrations make this sweet picture book appeal to kids. Even better, if your children/students love this book or sea creatures, Kristen and Kevin Collier have a website where you can meet each character closer and download FREE activity and coloring pictures with Joy and her friends. A DVD is coming soon, too, according to the website. Check it out here:
Short, short summary: Joy the Jellyfish is swimming around the Great Barrier Reef. All she wants is a friend. But since she is nearly invisible, the other creatures have a hard time seeing her. Joy doesn’t understand what she is doing wrong. She finally gets some advice from a little white whale–”You have to be a friend to make a friend.” Joy and Bella become friends, but they can’t live in the same place due to that darn water temperature. However, Bella gives Joy the confidence she needs to learn to make new friends! This is the perfect book for our little guys who are shy and want to make friends. It’s always easier to see these cute creatures struggle and overcome their fears than humans doing it.
So, what do I do with this book?
1. This is a great introduction to different sea creatures. You could even do a KWL chart with students before reading it about animals they know live in the sea, animals they wonder about, and then animals they learn about. You could also find real photos of these animals to compare to the illustrations.
2. What is a friend? How do you make friends? How does Joy finally make friends? These questions and more can be discussed after reading the book. However, you should realize EVERY child will want to share a story about their best friend. So, have plenty of time for this discussion!
3. This is also a great book to talk about problem and solution because it is very apparent what the problem in the story is: Joy wants a friend but doesn’t know how to make friends. Solution: she learns she has to step outside her comfort zone/shyness. There aren’t a lot of subplots or anything in the way of these important story elements.