Underwater Friends Cooperate to Return GAVIN'S GOGGLES

Andy Lightner developed GAVIN'S GOGGLES: GOGGLES LOST AT SEA based on an experience he had with his family at the beach. In the fictionalized version of events, Gavin's goggles are lost to the tide, and get passed from one aquatic creature to the next as they try to determine what the things are and, later, how to return them to their original owner.

The story is told in a very light manner. Nearly all of the creatures have alliterative names, save for Pincher the Blue Crab and Bella Pelican, which makes it accessible to the very young readers. The book also comes with a set of ready-to-color illustrations at the end of the various sea characters who appear in the story, lending an interactive quality to the book.

The illustrations from Candice Wilson, which look to be done in chalks and/or colored pencils, are put forth in a simple manner. They're not inelegant or ugly, just simple and frequently not to scale. The creature drawings see reuse from page to page, and the opening introduction of Gavin holding a rainbow in both hands might be a little too 1970s, but they service the story and draw the younger reader's focus.

That the book has a subtitle might lead one to think that this would be a series -- not a series about Gavin, but a series about his goggles, which I can't imagine would be the idea here. A self-published labor of love, GAVIN'S GOGGLES: GOGGLES LOST AT SEA is available through Amazon Digital Services.