Sea Lions In The Parking Lot, empty space through the eyes of animals

That sounds like some code or warning that big box stores have, doesn’t it? In reality, Sea Lions In The Parking Lot is an illustrated book that looks at some of the ways that wildlife was affected during the height of the COVID pandemic. It’s a large book that sets up each scene with a half of a page to a page of text that vividly describes what it’s normally like for the animals. The next two pages are big, realistic illustrations of these otherwise wild animals in situations that are urban and strange.

The art is haunting and a great testament to the fact that a picture is worth a thousand words. At times the illustrations resemble something that you’d see in a zombie film, like in Nara, Japan where the deer are pictured on the escalator. The kangaroos in Adelaide, curiously sniff areas under the overpass as the streets are completely abandoned.

Some of the art is more animal-centric. The pandas at Ocean Park in Hong Kong were left alone, loved the silence, and as a result mated for the first time in ten years. Just across the Yellow Sea in South Korea, they had their first panda cub ever born in that country. Apparently pandas, despite their cute and seemingly social personality, really love their privacy.

The text in Sea Lions In The Parking Lot is smart and loaded with adjectives, similes, animal facts, and a big overview of their life. It’s impressive that author Lenora Todaro was able to accomplish this in just half a page in some cases. The description is patient, folky at times, and lets readers feel like they’re experiencing a brief snippet about how the critters live. The only thing missing is the smell of wet fur, which, to be honest, is OK not to have around.

It’s the starkness of the book that will hook in readers. The text pages are engaging and have a small illustration of the animals that they’re talking about. Once you turn the page you see the two-page spread that really takes readers into their world. That art encourages you to turn the page you’ll see the formula repeated. This is the potato chip and cat video conundrum. You start with one and before you know it you’re finished with the book.

However, in the world of children’s literature, this is a good thing. Sea Lions In The Parking Lot can be enjoyed by grades four and up. The text will be on level for fifth graders to read it on their own and there are grammar takeaways on every page. Find the simile. Where are the adjectives? and so on.  I did that exercise with a group of sixth-graders the other day and they quite enjoyed it. It’s a soft look into how animals live, how we interact with them, and what happens when those Venn diagrams sometimes separate just a little bit.

Because of the soft nature of the book, it requires patience and those impatient readers won’t realize how good the book is. In those cases, they might need to have the book read to them, in addition to being asked some questions about what’s happening. I know that upper elementary through those middle school years think that they’re too cool for illustrated books. However, this is an example of a book that’s best served for them. It’s smart, detailed, and treats them like the intelligent readers that they are. It even ends with more details about the animals, their environment, and a bit about the very fascinating term, ‘anthropuase’.

Sea Lions In The Parking Lot is by Lenora Todaro with illustrations by Annika Siems and available on Minedition.

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