A review by cjeziorski
The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles by Michelle Cuevas

3.0

This is a beautifully illustrated book---the drawings (?) are soft and slightly blurred. It would work well as a mentor text for figurative language ("A letter can hold the treasure of a clam-hugged pearl." and "...that this was about as likely as finding a mermaid's toenail on the beach."). But as a read-aloud for students who are second language learners, there was a lot of explaining needed to support the vocabulary of the text. One thing that I admire with this book is that the question of the intended recipient for the mysterious letter is never really answered...who wrote it? Was it actually for the Uncorker, or for someone else?

Just as an aside, I had a kindergarten teacher ask, "Why is there a drawing of a wine bottle on the board?" when she came to get her kids. Like I said, lots of vocabulary support needed.