The Fin-Tastic Rescue
The Fin-Tastic Rescue is an informative, encouraging picture book about caring for marine animals and their habitats.
Laura Mancuso’s provocative picture book The Fin-Tastic Rescue concerns how human actions impact nature; it encourages methods of conservation.
Sara, Alix, and Lucy are a joyous mermaid trio. They encounter lethargic Tony the Turtle on their way to an underwater kiting trip. Realizing that Tony is ill, they ask Lucy’s human friend, Beth, to take him to a marine shelter for treatment.
After they help Tony, the mermaids decide to form an underwater animal rescue team. They work in tandem with Beth to do so. Together, they help animals who have been injured by plastic waste and water sports activities in the ocean. They also dedicate themselves to the task of educating human beings on how to respect marine habitats.
This optimistic book makes efforts to showcase the difficulties that marine animals face. Its characters rally well to address these issues, in part because they already possess all of the tools that they need to effect the necessary changes in their worlds. Still, though the mermaids are determined to stop at nothing to help their fellow sea creatures, they face few true obstacles. Their collaboration with Beth is seamless, as are the story’s collaborations between other mermaids, humans, and animals. Beth always turns up at the right time, and she and the mermaids have an easy time sensitizing people to the importance of saving ocean life. They fight for underwater peace and serenity with inspirational consistency.
The language is direct, pleasant, and rhyming, though some rhymes are forced. The illustrations focus on the bustling world beneath the ocean, and they show each of the mermaids in distinctive styles, with differently colored fins and tops. The marine animals are drawn in detail, too, as with a manatee with algae on its back. These factors complement the encouraging tale, which shows that simple steps can be taken now in order to protect marine life.
Telling an educational story about ocean conservation and marine habitats, The Fin-Tastic Rescue is an informative and encouraging picture book.
Reviewed by
Manik Chaturmutha
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
