A Crack in the Sea

The Middle Passage and the fall of Saigon: two terrible events, separated by centuries, with seemingly nothing in common. But for Bouwman (The Remarkable & Very True Story of Lucy & Snowcap) anything is possible, including the existence of a second world. It's 1978 there: 12-year-old Kinchen leaves her island home to save her younger brother, Pip, after he is taken to Raftworld, the vividly described floating nation of descendants of enslaved Africans brought there 200 years prior via the aquatic magic of a girl named Venus and her brother, Swimmer. On Earth, meanwhile, Thanh and his older sister, Sang, are on a motorized rowboat in the South China Sea, having escaped South Vietnam only to travel through a magical doorway to the second world--the same door the Raft King kidnapped Pip in order to find. Through the captivating interwoven tales of these three sibling pairs--and with assistance from Shimizu's powerful ink illustrations--Bouwman crafts a moving narrative about family, magic, morality, the power of storytelling, and the cyclical nature of history. Ages 10-up. Author's agent: Tricia Lawrence, Erin Murphy Literary. (Jan.)

Gr 5 Up--This engaging and wistful novel reimagines the outcome of tragic events from the past with a magical bent through three sibling-centered stories. First, readers meet Pip and his sister Kinchen, who live in the "second world" on one of the few pieces of viable land, the island of Tathenn. The rest of the population live on a giant community of rafts bound together, called Raftworld, ruled by the Raft King. Select people in this world are born with gifts--storytelling, the capacity to walk on water, and, in Pip's case, the ability to communicate with fish and other sea creatures. Next, readers are introduced to Venus and Swimmer, twins who, after being captured by a "first world" slave ship in 1781, eventually lead their people to freedom by going through a crack in the sea to the second world. Finally, there's Thanh, his sister Sang, and several relatives, who flee war-torn Vietnam in 1976 in search of a better life. A difficult journey, including a violent encounter with Thai pirates, leaves them desperate and hungry in the middle of the ocean. Though the plot is complicated and fantastical, Bouwman's world is never difficult to understand, and the three sibling tales eventually interweave beautifully. Shimizu's black-and-white illustrations enhance the narrative's progression. An afterword and further reading list provide insight and ideas for readers interested in the terrible true account of the Zong slave ship, which inspired the author. VERDICT Fans of Grace Lin will love this wholly original book that reads like a fairy tale. A moving and thought-provoking choice for library collections.--Kristy Pasquariello, Wellesley Free Library, MA