The Boy and the Sea

Gr 2-4–A boy grows up near the sea. Whenever he has a question, he turns to the sea for answers. As he grows up, he discovers more and more questions, but the sea is always there for him to sit by, ponder, and listen. In these peaceful moments, absorbed by the sights and sounds of the sea, the boy hears one-word answers from the churning waves: dream, love, be. As the boy grows into an old man, the artwork implies that he passes his meditative appreciation for the sea to his son. Because the boy does not have a name, the text has universal themes of longing for peace and answers to life’s questions. However, the tender artwork depicts a singular boy’s experiences, masculine and heteronormative, which are not described in the text. This choice limits the universal appeal of the poetic words. The boy has light skin and characters of other skin tones occasionally appear in the background. Watercolor seascapes are beautiful, with shells, crabs, and reflections in wet sand.