The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles
by Michelle Cuevas (Author) Erin E Stead (Illustrator)
A message in a bottle holds the promise of surprise and wonder, as told in this enthralling picture book by Caldecott Medalist Erin E. Stead. The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles, who lives alone atop a hill, has a job of the utmost importance. It is his task to open any bottles found at sea and make sure that the messages are delivered.
He loves his job, though he has always wished that, someday, one of the letters would be addressed to him. One day he opens a party invitation--but there's no name attached. As he devotes himself to the mystery of the intended recipient, he ends up finding something even more special: the possibility of new friends.
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Kirkus Reviews
Readers will find both consolation and encouragement on every visit to this emotionally resonant, evocative story.
Booklist
A winner for those who like sensitive, quiet reads.
School Library Journal
K-Gr 2--Every day at the seashore, a man works at a lonely job: finding glass bottles and traveling great distances to deliver the messages they contain. Then he finds a mysterious party invitation, and while attending the event, he discovers connection and community. The heart-tugging, contemplative story is extended in Stead's dreamy, poignant illustrations, which evoke both the foggy landscape and the vulnerable charm of the characters. A perfect pairing of text and art.
Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Publishers Weekly
The eccentric seaman of the title lives alone in a tumbledown beach cottage: "He had no name. He had no friends. He stank of seaweed," writes Cuevas (Confessions of an Imaginary Friend). By bringing the messages he finds floating in bottles on the waves to nearby villagers, his life gains meaning. Some messages are "written by a quill dipped in sadness," while others "made people quite happy, for a letter can hold the treasure of a clam-hugged pearl." One day he uncorks an invitation to a seashore party. No one claims it, but when he ventures shyly to the beach, those he has served serenade him; he even tries dancing. Caldecott Medalist Stead's (A Sick Day for Amos McGee) ethereal spreads give the characters distinctive, captivating personalities. In one, the Uncorker sits at his table in his fisherman's cap, lost in a dream; in another, an older woman closes her eyes, transported with joy by the letter she receives. The underlying message about learning to see the worth of every person is a treasure. Ages 4-8. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management. (Aug.)
Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
People Magazine Best Children's Books of 2016
School Library Journal Best Books of 2016
Boston Globe Best Books of 2016 "Cuevas's prose is laden with gems . . . gorgeous sentences as precious as the messages themselves. Beauty shines through a fog of sadness . . . Colors—the tawny body of a cat, the red of the man's Cousteau-esque knit cap—bloom with Stead's whispery pencil drawings."—The New York Times Book Review Michelle Cuevas has reworked a historical curiosity—an official job, in Elizabethan England, of opening bottles that might contain naval secrets—into a contemporary tale of longing and consolation."—The Wall Street Journal
JUV051000 - Juvenile Fiction | Imagination & Play
JUV039090 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | New Experience
JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / Friendship
JUVENILE FICTION / Imagination & Play
JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / New Experi
Ocean bottles
