Swap! by Steve Light (review)
Elizabeth Bush · Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books./Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books · 2016
Reviewed by: Swap! by Steve Light Elizabeth Bush Light, Steve Swap!; written and illus. by Steve Light. Candlewick, 2016 [40p] ISBN 978-0-7636-7990-3 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R 4-7 yrs [Correction] The old tar sitting despondently on the pier clearly longs for one more adventure at sea, and the rickety old ship at anchor nearby is just as clearly unfit to deliver it. When a button pops off his tattered coat, his young friend, a perky little girl, starts in motion a scheme to put the wind back in his sails and suggests the two see what they can get for the button (“Let’s swap!”). First, they trade the button for two teacups from a nice seaport resident; next they exchange the two cups for three coils of rope. Two of the coils get swapped for six oars; two of the oars buy them four flags. Upon making the final trade, they are now able to refit the leaky vessel and put out to sea (“Ahoy!”). The value of the trades will seem improbable to even the most naïve bargainers, but it’s all part of the fun, as the audience follows the endpaper maps around the islands where the trading is conducted, watches the monkey who frolics on the fringes with clues for the upcoming swap, and revels in the persnickety details of the fantastical, intricate black and white marketplaces and backdrops. Any girl who’s ever bellowed “Aargh!” will appreciate the humor that it’s a frilly-skirted girl who stumps around nimbly on a peg leg in this sea story, making her older pal’s dreams come true. The limited, repetitive text will [End Page 312] be a boon to beginning readers, and the unusual deployment of limited swaths of matte color to accent the sea, the protagonists, and their trades will invite older viewers to consider how color guides the eye across a spread. Copyright © 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois