To the Sea
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A young boy discovers that having a whale for a friend makes anything possible in this touching picture book from the illustrator of Night Night, Groot!
Sometimes Tim feels invisible at school-until one day, when Tim meets Sam. But Sam isn't just any new friend: he's a blue whale, and he can't find his way home! Returning Sam to the sea is hard work, but Tim is determined to help. After all, it's not every day you meet a new friend!
Praise for To the Sea
"A whale's tale that dives deep and surfaces with useful lessons about making, keeping, and helping friends." -- Kirkus Reviews
"An unusual and appealing story about friendship." -- School Library Journal
Praise for Explorers of the Wild
"[An] exquisite book . . . [with] ravishing art." -- USA Today
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Atkinson debuts with a moody but reassuring story about a boy who feels invisible until he befriends Sam, a lost whale. No Free Willy style orca, the whale that Tim discovers outside his school one rainy day is a hulking sea-green behemoth. While Atkinson hits the story's themes of loneliness and friendship a bit hard ("The other kids were too busy to notice the big blue whale. Sometimes Tim felt no one noticed him either"), his illustrations and their eye-popping marigold and teal palette will make readers sit up and take notice. In a vibrant orange raincoat, Tim is a spot of bright color amid the torrential downpours of his neighborhood; indoor scenes are colored in golden hues, creating an intense warmth that echoes Tim's rising spirits as he debates how to transport Sam to the sea. His solution pulling Sam behind his bicycle leads to a frightening climax in which Tim nearly drowns, but the whale mounts a quick rescue, and a sunny closing scene suggests that Tim's next friend might be human, not cetacean. Ages 3 5.
