Sealed with a Kiss

Friendship

Sealed with a Kiss by Beth Ferry and French illustrator Olivier Tallec is a silly story about a seal who is new to the zoo. It teaches readers about friendship and forgiveness and is a blast to read. It has lots of fun vocab, alliteration and sprinkles of French. It's just a fun book to read!

The gist:

This book is about a French seal who is new to the zoo! She waits for the other animals to welcome her, but no one comes. Eventually, a sparrow flies by and gives her a peck on the cheek, which inspires her to go out and make friends herself! She tries to make friends but all the other animals run away because her breath smells fishy. This leaves her feeling sad and alone. When little bird scolds the other animals and reminds them of how they felt when they first came to the zoo, they decide to apologize and welcome her with open arms, and, some breath mints!

My favorite (and not so favorite) part(s):

This book is so goofy and I loved it. It's a blast to read aloud because it's littered with alliteration and sprinkled with French. It also has a lot of really fun vocabulary that could be fun to decode with students. Plus, it has a great message! Everyone's been the new kid at some point or another and it can be really hard. It's important that we remember that feeling and work hard to welcome new people to our communities. And, when we make a mistake or are not-so welcoming, it's important to always say sorry and try again.

I did have two reservations about this book, but I still like it enough to recommend. One, the seal's French accent is a bit cheesy and I'm not sure how appropriate it is to appropriate an accent of any sort. However, the illustrator is a French man, and because the French aren't historically and systematically marginalized, I saw this as "punching-up" kind of humor. Two, there's the issue of consent. People shouldn't go around kissing others without their permission. However, I think this is an opportunity to engage in a conversation about cultural customs. In France, and many other countries, it's perfectly normal to greet people (even people you're just meeting!) with a kiss on the cheek. Perhaps this book could also be used to facilitate a conversation about how to react when someone has different cultural customs.

What you can do:

I think this is a great book to read either at the beginning of the year or when you have a new student join your class. This book will help students remember how they felt when they were new and will remind them to welcome their new friends with open arms.