The picture book Flooded by Mariajo Ilustrajo hit close to home. Recently my state had serious flooding happen. (I went by business X early Sunday evening. By Monday the building was half underwater at the same time). My town, while thankfully mostly missed this last time, has already weathered at least three big storms and a bad winter flooding over the last decade. Thankfully, not first hand, but I know about flooding. I have a friend anytime a storm hits, she has PTSD (I would too if I saw my car, porch, and road float past me) and I have seen the results. Then, the second part of hitting too close to home was the fact that I know about global warming. And Ilustrajo tells us about flooding because of global warming in a, at first, humorous way, that gets all too serious.
The animals of this world wake up one morning and realize that something is different. But it is just a bit wet in the town. Nothing too bad people think, except for one small animal who knows something is not right. Of course, blind eyes approach the situation. The tall ones “it’s just a little water” as the small ones have to use oxygen masks (fish bowls, etc); until it is almost too late. The concept is easy, we must take care of our world, and we can only do that together, but of course environmental issues are anything but easy.
The illustrations are unique. They are busy, but not crowded, but some pages can be filled. They are clever in the manner that you almost forget that they are animals, until you see a giraffe being neck deep in water, or the mice rowing by, or the fish bowls/tanks being worn. Perhaps my favorite image is the one where everyone is at the art gallery and only one being is worried about the art. It shows there is a bit of humor, but it really is not funny. The colors and style are in their own ways. The colors are muted, but not dull and the details simple, but you need to look at them as much as the text. I think a second reading is in order.
It can be for any age, but know your reader before giving it to them. However, unless you have an online reader copy like I did, you have until October 2023 to find out who it would be perfect for.
