Series ✦ Penny’s Take
Why the Sea Is Salt
Margaret Mayo · 1998
66/100
👎 Skip It
The Norse salt-mill tale is one of folklore's most satisfying origin stories, and Mayo's retelling is clean and accessible with Tony Ross's warm illustrations doing a lot of the heavy lifting. The second tale about spirit figures is thinner and less developed, keeping this from being a standout even in its own series. A pleasant classroom or library read-aloud, but not a memorable picture book.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
safety95
substance60
craft65
originality55
accuracy68
hype52
age-fit88
human-eye62
Penny’s verdict66
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