Review - Seagull Sid: and the Naughty Things His Seagulls Did

Seagull Sid: and the Naughty Things His Seagulls Did
by Dawn McMillan
illustrated by Ross Kinnaird
Date: 2012
Publisher: Dover Publications
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Seagull Sid and his fine feathered mates are sick of looking at all the rubbish that people leave behind at the shore. But how can the seagulls reclaim their beach from the trashy humans? No worries, Sid has a mischievously messy plan of attack — watch out below!

Rollicking rhymes and delightful drawings highlight this tale by the bestselling team of storyteller Dawn McMillan and illustrator Ross Kinnaird, the cheeky creators of I Need a New Butt! and Doctor Grundy's Undies.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I don't know who thought this disgusting story was a good idea. I may be biased because I've been pooped on by these flying rats, and I wasn't doing anything to deserve it (I was just minding my own business, trying to eat my lunch in the school courtyard... and a seagull decided to splatter diarrhea all over me).

This book, written in terribly clunky rhyme, is about Sid and his seagull friends who are tired of the humans making a mess of the beach, so they decide to chase them away. First of all, this premise makes no sense, unless the seagulls are really, really stupid (spoiler alert: they are). Where are these scavengers going to get all their treats if they deter humans from coming to the beach? That wasn't thought out very well. Especially since the book shows the seagulls feasting on the abandoned picnics. Short term gain? What happens if the humans decide not to come back to the poop-strewn beach?

Because, see, that's the thing about this book. It's appallingly disgusting. Yes, the humans leaving trash everywhere is gross... but so is the seagulls' solution. They poop on everything. They poop on the people. Then they start pooping on the food. Um... don't crap where you eat? I guess they've never heard that saying because, at the end, they all sit down to a poop-covered feast! (That sound you hear is me gagging.)

And, as if the subject matter wasn't gross enough, the book had to go and get sexist with Freda:

And then there was Freda
with potential as leader,
but they didn't need her...

So why the heck are you bringing her up?! Sid is shown as the leader of the seagulls, so why bring up Freda at all? Just to point out that one of the few female characters in this book is unneeded?

About the only thing I liked in this book was the one-legged seagull with his eye patch. The rest of the illustrations are forgettable, and weirdly gender binary. (Apparently, it's important that we know which seagulls are female, so they're drawn wearing jewellery; Freda even has a fancy hairstyle.)

After all that, the seagulls didn't even do anything about their original problem, which was the dirty beach. They chased away the only creatures actually capable of cleaning up the mess. I'm not sure what the message of this book is supposed to be, other than threatening kids with having a seagull poop on them if they litter. Really, though, seagulls could do that anyway, for no real reason.

Sorry... but I don't get it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dover Publications for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: 2/5
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 0/5

Overall: 1.43 out of 5