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Constant Reader

 "Tim and Lucy Go to Sea" starts with a normal problem: What is a kid to do all day? We're in fantasy terrain, so our kid, Tim, has a bizarre answer: Buy a yacht!


Tim persuades his new friends--Lucy and Mr. Grimes--to provide the funding. (It's good to kill off the parents in a picture book, and this one wisely neglects to mention a strict mom and dad. Mr. Grimes is a kooky benefactor; he can see no issue with putting small children in charge of a large boat.)


A boat brings new treats: fun jerseys with the boat name ("Evangeline") printed across the front, tales from the grizzled cook. You can stare out at sea, or up at the sky, at a passing plane. You can row a little lifeboat on short "day-trip" excursions. But any adventure also involves challenges, and this one has potential mutineers and a crabby governess, and it's unclear if Tim will win a battle on either front. (Hint: Tim manages the mutineers, and he wins over the governess.)


One thing that distinguishes a classic picture book from other picture books is: detail. Ardizzone wants to make us remember the governess, so he shows us her scowling face, he calls her "Mrs. Smawley" (a name that seems to combine "Small" with "Bawl"). In my favorite spread, one corner shows Tim staring out at the vast sea, alive with colors and shapes. In another corner, very tiny and cramped, Mrs. Smawley fights sea sickness and frowns in her narrow bed. Form reinforces content: The prison of Smawley's existence is suggested by the tight, cramped scale of the drawing. Also, when the mutineers arrive on the boat, the entire page seems in danger of tipping over: The haywire moral situation is underlined by the "tilted stage" for the drawing.


Am I seeing things that aren't there? I doubt it. I look forward to more Ardizzone.


P.S. Shun-lien Bynum has a new book on Tuesday. It's been around a decade! The book is called "Likes." I'm intrigued.

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