1, 2, 3 SALISH SEA

Counting from one to 1 million, McClure introduces children to the creatures and habitats of the Pacific Northwest’s Salish Sea.

The initial spreads, one through 10, interpolate well-known animals—five salmon, seven seals—with wonderfully unfamiliar ones. Each entry provides both the numeric symbol and the written word(s) for the number, along with a short phrase describing action, from “THREE Lumpsuckers hanging on” to “EIGHT Kelp crabs lunching in a forest.” McClure’s exquisite, intricate papercuts, accented with pastel watercolor washes, reveal anatomical details like scales, claws, and suckers and are particularly adept at capturing the flying and diving of birds. Later entries hopscotch from 20 clams, 50 surf scoters, and 100 sculpins to some really big groups: 500 dunlins, 1,000 “Years of a cedar tree sharing life,” 10,000 plankton, and “ONE MILLION Raindrops returning to the Salish Sea.” Beyond 100, McClure understandably abandons the faithfully exact depictions of quantities. For the old-growth cedar tree, her papercut interposes the tree in its natural setting with a crosscut slab, its pink-orange growth rings filling and spilling off the double spread. Embedded in McClure’s teeming compositions and airy text are an impressive knowledge and respect for the habitats fostered by the Salish Sea. However, readers will have to go elsewhere for information about the intriguing denizens and domains featured here.

Perceptively celebrates the Salish Sea and its natural elements, from one squid to 1,000,000 raindrops.