Toy Boat

A boy's handmade toy boat plays the metaphorical role of a child longing for independence in De Sèves auspicious first picture book. The text begins in simple language that lightly implies a parent/child bond: The boy loved the boat, and they were never apart. They bathed together. They slept together. Every day the boy sails the boat in the lake, holding onto it with a string. Usually the boat feels content, but occasionally the sight of big boats awakens its curiosity about what it would feel like to sail free. A sudden change in the weather occasions the toy boats premature adventure out of the boys protective grasp, described in suspenseful text and acrylics that imaginatively extend De Sèves story. Long (the re-illustrated "Little Engine that Could") shrewdly illustrates no persons other than David, even though David's mother plays a pivotal part. Rather, the toy boat has a face (readers should look carefully at the cork holding its mast) and, as it encounters the big boats at last, each wears its own visible personality. A giant ferry occupying most of a spread bears down on the toy boat, its windows, decks and trimmings shaped into an enraged visage, complete with glaring eyes and pursed lips; the toy boat shrinks dramatically in the wake of a huge speedboat depicted as a flame-colored shark. Not until the reassuring conclusion can the toy boat again be seen from the boys perspective. A resonant tale with wide appeal. Ages 2-up. (Sept.)

Copyright 2007 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission

A boy loves his toy boat and he takes it everywhere, keeping it close on a string near open water. When he drops the string and the toy is carried far out on the lake, it faces the perils of high waves, stormy skies, and large, mean-spirited vessels. The small boat, near sinking, sail heavy with water, misses the child terribly and floats aimlessly all night, lonely and frightened. (Even the moon is shown weeping at such a pathetic plight.) Finally the next day, "a humble little fishing boat" takes pity on the little boat since "it knew how it felt to be pushed around on the lake." It guides the toy toward shore and for a few moments the little boat feels the joy of freedom, wind in its sail. Then the boy sees it and the boat is home again. Now, the boy occasionally lets the string go when they are by the lake since the boat knows to come back. This story of freedom and its perils has the potential to be unsettling for a young audience. The cruel eyes of the giant ferry bearing down on the small boat and the painted sharklike teeth on the side of the speedboat with its "screaming" motor can easily be construed as menacing and can send a negative instead of heartening message. Only near the end, on the spread where the little boat is sailing, does the acrylic art show the pleasure of the open sky and freedom at the prow. This book has limited child appeal. - Susan Moorhead, New Rochelle Public Library, NY

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.