conversations.from: human
conversations.value: a description for a book titled Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas about Michael, Elizabeth, Elizabeth's with the genre: Children's Books, Geography & Cultures
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: K-Gr 3the author opens this fact-based story on just the right note: "There was once a lovely elephant seal who lived in the city." A boy named Michael is fascinated with the marine mammal that chooses to live by or swim in the tranquil Avon River that passes by Christchurch's botanical garden. When the seal, named after the Queen of England, narrowly avoids death after relaxing on a warm city street, residents volunteer to move her to an elephant seal colony. After she makes her way back, they try two additional times to relocate her. Finally, knowing that city dwellers were secretly happy to see Elizabeth return to Christchurch, the city erects a "Slow. Elephant Seal Crossing" sign near her favorite sleeping place. Some basic facts about these huge marine mammals are woven into the highly approachable narrative, and a few paragraphs at the conclusion further explore more about their habits. A black-and-white photo of the famous seal sleeping on the pavement closes the book and reinforces its factual nature. Floca's gentle pen-and-ink and watercolor paintings perfectly capture Elizabeth's watery world. Double-page spreads nicely complement pages that feature smaller vignettes echoing the seal's rounded body. Especially effective is a page where Michael, who after nearly three months without his friend, wishes on the stars reflected in the river's water; the page turn reveals the seal's head poking through radiating rings of water while the boy shouts, "Welcome home, Elizabeth!" Children are likely to request multiple readings of this compelling told and lovingly illustrated true story.Ellen Fader, formerly at Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Add another sentence about Elizabeth's, anthropomorphizing, continuing, suggesting.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: K-Gr 3the author opens this fact-based story on just the right note: "There was once a lovely elephant seal who lived in the city. " A boy named Michael is fascinated with the marine mammal that chooses to live by or swim in the tranquil Avon River that passes by Christchurch's botanical garden. When the seal, named after the Queen of England, narrowly avoids death after relaxing on a warm city street, residents volunteer to move her to an elephant seal colony. After she makes her way back, they try two additional times to relocate her. Finally, knowing that city dwellers were secretly happy to see Elizabeth return to Christchurch, the city erects a "Slow. Elephant Seal Crossing" sign near her favorite sleeping place. The author generally avoids anthropomorphizing Elizabeth's motivation for continuing to return to the city by suggesting a few possibilities for readers to consider. Some basic facts about these huge marine mammals are woven into the highly approachable narrative, and a few paragraphs at the conclusion further explore more about their habits. A black-and-white photo of the famous seal sleeping on the pavement closes the book and reinforces its factual nature. Floca's gentle pen-and-ink and watercolor paintings perfectly capture Elizabeth's watery world. Double-page spreads nicely complement pages that feature smaller vignettes echoing the seal's rounded body. Especially effective is a page where Michael, who after nearly three months without his friend, wishes on the stars reflected in the river's water; the page turn reveals the seal's head poking through radiating rings of water while the boy shouts, "Welcome home, Elizabeth!" Children are likely to request multiple readings of this compelling told and lovingly illustrated true story. Ellen Fader, formerly at Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the first four paragraphs for this book
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cox, Lynne. Elizabeth, queen of the seas / Lynne Cox ; illustrated by Brian Floca.—1st ed. p. cm.
  Many years ago, I traveled to New Zealand to swim across three lakes near Mount Cook. Before heading home to California, I took a walk along the Avon River, which flows through the city of Christchurch. A boy and a girl were standing on its banks, and they asked me if I was looking for Elizabeth.
  The boy, Michael, explained that Elizabeth was a very lovely elephant seal who had decided to live in Christchurch. Then Michael and his sister, Maggie, went on to tell me the wonderful story of. And when they were done, I knew that one day I would have to pass Elizabeth's story on to you.
  There was once a lovely elephant seal who lived in the city. Most elephant seals live in the ocean, in salt water. They sleep on rocky coasts and lie along sandy beaches. But this seal was different. She swam in the sweet, shallow waters of the Avon River where it flowed through the heart of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: two more paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: But the boat went on, towing Elizabeth out past the silty, brownish-green river mouth into the cold, dark ocean.
  At last the boat reached a sandy beach where other elephant seals lived. There the crew set her free.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the last paragraph
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: If you'd like to learn more about elephant seals, two good websites to visit are topp.org and nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/elephant-seal.html.