Beyond the ken of mortal men, beneath the wind and waves…
The Sign of the Sea-Horse by Graeme Base
Book on Amazon | My review on Amazon
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed on Apr 18, 2010
Beautifully written verse and even more beautiful illustrations. The story is set under water in coral reefs and dark chasms – which all lend themselves to some excellent illustrations. Surprised that it has not yet been made into an animation film for children.
I read it to my 6 year old, he simply laps it up – “Down with the Groper!”, or with bated breath, “Then did the sharks attack..?” And he loves the detailed illustrations on each page, each time discovering something new. Love the sea-creatures with the human expressions, painted with jackets and boots and accessories – brilliant imagination and execution!
The humor of the verse is somewhat advanced for children, but that only means they (as well as adults) can derive years of joy from it – reading it at different levels of understanding and appreciation.
The story has flavors of “Haroun and the Sea of Stories” – where also the Ocean of Notions is being killed off slowly by poison, and the heroes go searching for the source of poison… Of course the story is completely different, but this aspect personally reminded me of the other.
The large format of the book, with large font text and pictures covering 75% of each page-spread (2 facing pages), makes it all the more appealing.
Great coffee-table book (as well as bed-time book). Would recommend it for children of all ages!
