The Biggest, Highest Wave

K-Gr 3–This story is inspired by Nazare, Portugal, a location famous for its enormous waves. Rhyming text and repetitive phrases (“The mighty force—crushing fury and “Underwater roiling, heaving”) mimic the rhythm of the ocean’s ebb and flow. Bold, eye-catching colors fill the pages with blue waves and a “tiny speck, a human form” in a yellow swimsuit on a red surfboard. One image juxtaposes the gigantic wave with the tiny form surfing down the wave’s face. Strong vertical lines in a lighter blue add to the feeling of a towering wall of water while the surfer is similar in size to the shadows of fish within the wave. Another scene shows the crowd watching from the headland with the waves reaching higher than the lighthouse. Even after wiping out, the daring surfer swims back to the surface and tries again, “so small and yet so brave.” Back matter includes a diagram and an author’s note about why the topography of the area creates such huge waves.